Before his players starting dropping to the turf with injuries, Emporia High soccer coach Steve Pearson liked the fight his team was showing in a battle with Washburn Rural Tuesday night.
The Spartans had kept pace with the Junior Blues through the entire first half, holding the nine-time defending Centennial League champions to a scoreless tie at halftime.
But in the second half, five Emporia High players had to leave the game at different points due to injury, significantly impairing the Spartans’ chances at an upset, as Washburn Rural went on to win, 2-0.
“I was very pleased with how well we did,” Pearson said. “They played hard all the way, and I was just running out of people. The first half was beautiful, but we couldn’t keep it up in the second half because we were running out of bodies.”
Though neither team was particularly good on offense throughout the game — EHS ended with just five shots on goal while Washburn Rural had 11 — in the first half, the Spartans stood their ground on defense against a much taller Junior Blues squad.
“We started out with a bang and gave it a lot of effort. They were the better team, but we fought hard,” junior Brandon Heavener said. “They are a lot taller, but we felt we outplayed them in some areas — speed and some skill.”
Emporia’s best chance to score all night actually came in the 17th minute, when Adrian Trujillo knocked a pass over the head of Washburn Rural’s goalkeeper, Spenser Scott, right to a waiting Alex Guevara. With a wide open goal in front of him, Guevara misplayed the pass and shot the ball high over the net.
The missed opportunity left the game at 0-0 heading into the half.
Washburn Rural got on the scoreboard in the 47th minute when Austin Bork shot a pass into a pack of players in front of the net, and after EHS goalkeeper Spencer Anderson got a hand on it once, Rural’s Brandon Weyland headed the ball into the lower right corner of the net to make it 1-0.
“The players all had their own opinion of what happened,” Pearson said. “Our goalie got his hands on it the first time, and then the next thing I saw, I saw him go rolling into the net. All I know is he wasn’t on his feet to stop the header.”
Rural scored again when Emporia High’s Brian Tabares fouled Nick Golden inside the goal box in the 61st minute, allowing Golden to attempt a penalty kick, which he promptly knocked past Anderson.
In the meantime, EHS suffered through injuries to an already depleted squad — defender Carlos Rangel sat out due to a red card in Monday’s game and Steve Numara has a broken foot.
“Five injuries in the last 15 minutes is tough to get over,” Pearson said. “It was a good thing I brought up three JV players for this game because we were already down a couple players.”
In JV action, Washburn Rural defeated Emporia High 4-2, with Ralph Rodriguez and Melik Keller scoring the two Spartan goals.
Spartan volleyball
picks up 2 wins Tuesday
The Emporia High volleyball team picked up two victories Tuesday night at the Washburn Rural Invitational.
The Spartans took matches from Manhattan and Highland Park while only losing to host Washburn Rural.
Emporia High opened the quad with a 2-1 victory over Manhattan. After falling 25-5 in the first game, the Spartans responded in a big way, bouncing back to take Game Two and Three to knock off the Indians.
The second game proved to be pivotal, as the Spartans jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never trailed, eventually taking the game, 25-21.
Washburn Rural handled Emporia High in the second match of the night, as the Spartans dropped the match, 2-0 (25-9, 25-15). EHS never led in either game.
Against Highland Park, the Spartans got a solid effort from senior Jessica Muckenthaler, who put down nine kills, while junior Jessica Decker added five kills and junior Ashley Lake contributed four more. EHS defeated Highland Park, 2-0 (25-8, 25-10).
The Spartans have a 10-day layoff before their next action, which will be Oct. 14 at home when they play host to the Emporia Invite.