| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hesston |
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Johnson County |
3
|
4
|
7
|
1st half: 1 JC Parker Ferebee (assist Shawn Andrews); 2 JC Parker
Ferebee (assist Jaun Ortiz); 3 JC Shawn Andrew (assist Gonzalo Fernandez)
2nd half: 4 JC Shawn Andrews (assist Gonzalo Fernandez); 5 JC
Davis Zagortz (assist Gonzalo Fernandez, 6 JC Shawn Andrews (assist
Gonzalo Fernandez), 7 JC Shawn Andrews (unassisted)
Shots: HC 2 (0 SOG), JC 29 (17 SOG)
Saves: HC 10 Danny Yoder; JC 0 Brandon Hargis
Coach's Summary: Picture perfect weather with sunny skies and
just a light breeze made for a great day to play soccer. The 12th ranked
Cavaliers from Johnson County were coming off a solid 5–2 victory
over Dodge City, while the Larks from Hesston College were coming off
a tough 4–0 loss to Barton County. “I knew from the beginning
of the season that this would be a difficult week. Barton has built
a very strong program in a very short time and Johnson County has for
a long time been a Region VI powerhouse. Taking on both teams in a matter
of three days isn’t easy an easy task.”
Johnson County came out on fire
scoring their first goal just two minutes into the match. There wasn’t
any let up after that goal as JC capitalized again in a matter of just
three more minutes. “We tried to move a couple of guys around for
the start to see if we could create more attack, but it backfired on
us big time. We moved Brett Brand up in the midfield for the first time.
He usually plays in the back. It was very obvious that we needed his
presence in the back so we switched him back to his normal central back
position.”
The move help the Larks seal up
the back for most of the remaining first half but the Cavaliers were
still able to possess and move the ball very quickly. Hesston struggled
to keep up and create their own attack. With a few minutes remaining
in the first half Johnson County struck again when a poor goal kick
found its way to a JC forward. Gonzalo Fernandez made quick work to
punish the Larks for their mistake by slipping the ball to teammate
Shawn Andrews who put the ball into the back of the net for a 3–0
lead. “I knew that moving Brett out of the back was a risk but
I thought it was worth trying. So those first two goals were partly
my fault. The third goal was just poor execution on our part.”
Hesston looked more prepared the
second half as they were able to move the ball better but JC still had
far greater time in possession. Midway through the second half JC claimed
their fourth goal and soon after made the score 5–0. With time
running down in the final 10 minutes JC added two goals to their tally
to finalize the score at 7–0. “Johnson County is a very good
team. They played well. They move the ball very well and very quickly.
They have some very talented players as they always do. I think we could
have played much better but they really showed why they’re the
12th ranked team in the country. We experimented with some new ideas
and they didn’t work. That happens. I’m not concerned about
the score. We’ll just go back and work on getting better. We have
to face them again in the first round of the regional tournament and
I think next time we’ll be better prepared. I’ve told the
guys from the beginning of the season that the regular season exists
to prepare us for the post season. Hopefully we’ll be playing our
best soccer then and give JC a better game.”
The Larks come home to play Barclay
College on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in front of their exuberant fans.