| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Allen County |
0
|
2
|
2
|
| Hesston |
0
|
0
|
0
|
1st Half – None
2nd Half – 1 AC goal Jared Watkins (assist Brand Fuller); 2 AC goal Jared Watkins (unassisted)
Shots on goal: AC 17 HC 3
Saves: AC Derek Talcott 3 HC Kyle Beun 15
Coach's Comments--
The Larks entered Wednesday night’s
game with Allen County with renewed confidence after a strong effort
against Johnson County. We decided that we were going to put more pressure
on Allen County’s defense than we did against Johnson County. Although
AC is a good team, they’re not nearly the team that we faced last
Saturday. We didn’t want to pack it in quite as much as we did
against Johnson, but we still wanted to be stifling. I knew that we
might give up more chances defensively but we also wanted to create
more offensively. Hesston and Allen battled back and forth with both
sides getting some good chances to score. Kyle Beun was stellar in goal
for the Larks making many nice saves and good decisions. However, neither
side could post a result in the first half.
With the game up for grabs to start
the second half the Larks came out flat as Allen County came out immediately,
put some nice passes together and finished with a point blank shot to
put themselves up 1-0. We had a let down mentally right off the start.
Our defense didn’t shift quickly enough when Allen switched field
and it caught numbers down on the right side. Kyle had no chance on
the goal. To the Larks credit, instead of getting down it seemed to
wake them up and their play immediately picked up. Hesston managed some
nice opportunities on goal but the best was by Arsene Tshidimu. Arsene
collected the ball at the top left side of the penalty box pushed clear
of two defenders and sent a nice bending ball to the far post. AC’s
keeper made a nice diving save to just get a few fingertips on the ball
and push it wide. I had a great look at the shot from where I was standing.
I thought it was a goal for sure. Their keeper made an exceptional save.
The play continued back and forth
with Allen getting a few more chances than Hesston on goal. Hesston
dodged a bullet when a nicely placed free kick by AC just outside the
box was called off because of a holding foul on Allen County’s
forward. However, AC posted the second goal anyway with just 18 minutes
remaining in the contest. Hesston didn’t give up and still tried
to push forward. But Hesston’s eagerness just left them more vulnerable
in the back and allowed AC to put more pressure on the Larks defense.
We panicked a little at the end. I sent another player forward to try
to create more offense but we had too many players pushing forward.
The guys really wanted to win this game and it was a game that we were
very capable of winning. Although the final score was the same as the
Johnson game the guys were more disappointed with this game because
they knew Allen County was very beatable. Allen is not one of the best
teams in our region but there’s no shame in getting beat by them.
They are a solid team with very good players. Our region is very strong
this year. Each regional game will be a struggle. It wouldn’t be
surprising to me if we have 3 or 4 teams (not including Allen County)
in our region nationally ranked by the end of the year. That’s
just what we’re up against.
The fact that we haven’t scored
a goal in a while is frustrating for the players but there has been
good improvement from the beginning. Even though we beat those two teams
so badly at the beginning of the year we’re actually playing better
now. The teams we’re playing are just that good. The exciting thing
for me is that we’re capable of playing so much better. Once we
start putting things together better offensively we’ll start winning
some more games. We just have to be patient and realize that for most
of our games we’re going to have to play to win 1-0 or 2-1. The
style of play that we’ve adopted isn’t designed to score a
plethora of goals. But it’s the way we’re going to have to
play to be competitive.
The Larks next game will be Saturday
Sept 21 in Great Bend, Kan., against newly dominant Barton County at
3 p.m. Barton’s program is only 2 years old but because they (like
the rest of our Region VI opponents) can give full scholarships they’ve
come on quickly. Their coach Joe Berger has done a fantastic job in
a short time. It wouldn’t surprise me if they won our regional
tournament. They struggled in their first few games, but have come on
lately. They’ll be tough, but our guys are up for the challenge.