Kansas high school state soccer: Area matchups loom in state semifinals after Tuesday
According to Andover Central boys soccer coach Steven Husky, junior forward Leo Wurth isn’t doing anything differently in the postseason compared to the regular season.
It just so happens Wurth is on an incredible tear, scoring all four of Andover Central’s postseason goals with three of them counting as game-winners. Wurth’s latest game-winner came on Tuesday when he scored the game’s only goal in a 1-0 victory at Bishop Carroll in the Class 5A quarterfinals.
“I guess statistically, everything is evening out,” Husky said. “All of the games where things didn’t go his way and now he’s on a hot run of form. He’s not doing anything differently, things are just breaking right for him.”
Things are also breaking right for Andover Central, which went through an up-and-down 8-8 campaign during the regular season. But once postseason rolled around, Wurth has been unstoppable.
He scored the winner in overtime for a 1-0 victory over Andover in the opening round of the playoffs, then scored both goals in a 2-1 win at Newton in a regional championship. He added his fourth postseason goal on Tuesday against a stingy Bishop Carroll (8-7-1) defense.
“Jacob White played a ball forward to Leo and just like he’s done all postseason, he was able to cut inside and finish inside the box,” Husky said.
Andover Central’s late-season rally reminded Husky of Andover Central’s last trip to the state semifinals, when the Jaguars finished the 2017 regular season with a 7-6-3 record before tearing off three straight postseason wins to reach state. This will be Central’s third state semifinal appearance since 2015.
“We had a lot of close games this year, but I feel like that’s prepared us for the postseason,” Husky said. “We tried to keep the mindset that the regular season was meant to build and be honest with ourselves, then we could put it all together in the postseason. So far it’s been tight games, but we were ready for it.”
Andover Central will play Maize in Friday’s 4 p.m. semifinal at Spring Hill after the Eagles followed up their stunning overtime victory at Maize South with a convincing 3-0 win over Great Bend on Tuesday.
In coach Mike Pfeifer’s first season as coach, Maize (16-2-1) will return to the state semifinals for the first time in more than a decade. St. Thomas Aquinas (13-3-3) will play Shawnee Heights (13-4-1) in the other semifinal.
“I think we all knew in preseason training that we had something special with this group of boys,” Pfeifer said. “We are definitely peaking right now. Everybody is starting to really gel and believe in themselves and believe in the team. It’s all coming together. It’s been a phenomenal run, one that I’m still pinching myself that it’s even reality right now.”
Under Pfeifer, Maize has switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation and had great success playing a possession-based game. On Tuesday, Mikey Velasquez scored the game’s opening goal and Angel DeLeon added two more goals for the Eagles in a dominant victory.
Trinity or Rose Hill will play for 4-1A title in Wichita
There will be a local representative playing in the Class 4-1A championship game on Saturday in Wichita at Stryker Complex, as Rose Hill (16-1-1) and Trinity Academy (12-6-1) both advanced to the semifinals and will play at 7 p.m. Friday.
They both reached the final four with shutout victories on Tuesday, as Trinity Academy knocked off Berean Academy 2-0 and Rose Hill came away with a 1-0 victory at Coffeyville. Bishop Miege (8-5-3) will play Louisburg (15-1) in the other semifinal.
After losing 3-1 to Miege in last year’s championship match, Trinity is eager for a rematch. The Knights played Miege earlier this season and came away with a 1-1 tie on the road on October 3. With almost all of last season’s production returning, Trinity figured to make a strong push to return to the title game.
After missing the regional championship game last Saturday to run in the state cross country meet, freshman Sam Ferguson returned to Trinity on Tuesday to score both goals in the 2-0 victory over Berean. Ferguson was filling in the role of leading scorer Landon Green, who suffered a season-ending injury.
“He’s started for us since the get-go and we’ve known all along that he’s an attacking player,” Trinity coach Mark Brooks said. “He does have a pretty good platform to play on because he is surrounded by a lot of really talented players to help him out. But Sam does a great job of finding the seams.”
Trinity has returned to the state semifinals thanks to the stellar play from senior defender Ethan Cary, who is drawing Division I interest, and midfielders Ben Dixon and Cole Matthews.
But in order to return to the state title game, Trinity will have to get past Rose Hill, which has won its last 11 games and only dropped one game this season. Although Rose Hill was missing star player Caden Dinkel, the Rockets were able to prevail at Coffeyville thanks to the game’s only goal scored in the 30th minute by Andruw Weeks.
East’s quarterfinal run proves ‘we’re not a one-player team’
When Ivan Quezada, the best player on East’s team, suffered a season-ending injury early in the season, East coach Fred Koepp said he was a little perturbed by the prevailing thought outside of his program that East’s season would be derailed.
The Blue Aces proved their mettle this season, reaching the Class 6A quarterfinals with an undefeated record before bowing out, 3-1, to Washburn Rural in a home game on Tuesday. East finished its season with a 14-1 record.
“Obviously losing Ivan was a really big deal, but we set out to prove and I think we did prove that we’re not a one-player team and we’ve never been a one-player team,” Koepp said. “There’s a reason why we’ve went 43-9 over the last three years. We’ve worked hard to build a quality soccer program that plays quality soccer.”
In Quezada’s absence, East’s offense was still loaded with senior talent like Lalo Derath, Johan Hernandez, Abdullah Ahmed, Manuel Madrid and Cali Gutierrez. The defense was spearheaded by junior Vijay Reddy and freshman goalkeeper Jesus Garcia, who allowed just 13 goals in 15 games.
But on Tuesday, East could not overcome three superb goals scored by a potent Washburn Rural (16-2-1) attack. The Blue Aces clawed one back in the second half, but never threatened Rural’s lead.
“At the end of the day, we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” Koepp said. “I thought we had a good game plan, but it was just the little things that we weren’t able to do.”
Derby’s run ends in state quarters for second time in three years
After sitting with a losing record more than halfway through the season, Derby’s impressive turnaround came to an end on Tuesday with a 4-1 loss to undefeated Dodge City on the road in the Class 6A quarterfinals.
It was the second time in the past three seasons the Panthers (9-7-2) have played in the state quarterfinals, a feat made even more impressive considering Derby was 3-5-2 after its first 10 games.
Derby coach Paul Burke said the turnaround was the result of better defensive play, led by senior centerback Logan Eickelman and goalkeeper Xavier Vaquera.
“We buckled down defensively and I think we found the right groove and our chemistry just started rolling,” Burke said. “We became a little bit more consistent overall and these guys just made it a lot of fun. I’m proud of all of the hard work that they put in and they showed a lot of grit and determination just to get here.”
On Tuesday, Derby was actually the first to threaten, hitting the cross bar in the first minute on a set piece. But Dodge City score the first half’s only goal, then added two more in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Derby clawed one back when its high press forced a turnover and Caleb Day finished on the assist from Caden Miller.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
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