Following his team’s 3-0 loss to Shawnee Heights Thursday night, Emporia High girls soccer coach John Decker gave his squad a homework assignment.
The coach, displeased with the way his team played at times, told each girl to go home and look up the definition of the word “passion” and bring it to him at the next practice.
Passion, he said, was the biggest thing the Lady Spartans lacked in a rough and physical matchup against the Lady Thunderbirds.
“We work the ball up the field and we get into scoring position, and then we don’t look hungry for it. We don’t just blow through the ball,” Decker said. “They need to develop a sense of meanness about them. Sometimes you have to have a little bit of meanness about you.”
All throughout, Shawnee Heights appeared to be the aggressors, as the Lady T-Birds often knocked around the Lady Spartans to get to loose balls. Emporia (5-7) did its best to match that rough play, and the result was a total of 19 combined fouls called during the contest and at least three players — Emporia’s Jessica Muckenthaler and Kylee McCullough and Heights’ Kacy Covert — that had to leave the game because of injuries from collisions.
That part of the game, however, was expected.
“We know this team. We knew going into it that it was going to be a tough game,” senior forward Danielle Flanagin said. “We just tried to play as aggressive as we could.”
Shawnee Heights got on the scoreboard twice in the latter stages of the first half, as Stefine Pease broke the scoreless tie in the 28th minute with a slow roller that got past EHS goalkeeper Melanie Nuessen. Nuessen got a hand on it, but it was not enough to keep it from dribbling into the left side of the net to make it 1-0.
With five minutes left before the break, after receiving a pass from Rachel Helmke, Covert got a wide open look from the right side of the box and blasted a shot into the upper left corner of the net past a diving Nuessen to make it 2-0, which would remain the score until halftime.
“You just can’t leave open people in the box and let them get off shots,” Decker said. “They’re not going to miss those. It was a combination of miscommunication and not being in the right place.”
Emporia never threatened much in the second half, as the Lady Spartans got off just five shots on goal for the entire game. Meanwhile, Heights extended its advantage in the 64th minute when Colleen Brennan turned and fired a shot into the net from about 25 yards out to cap the scoring at 3-0.
The loss left a sour taste in the mouths of the Lady Spartans, who, against Highland Park the night before, had made it clear they wanted to beat Shawnee Heights.
Instead, they had to deal with Decker’s homework assignment.
“I think our communication needed to pick up a little bit. We need to support each other,” Flanagin said. “Otherwise, I think we did a pretty good job. We were hustling. I think we were playing to the very best of our abilities.”
Thursday at Emporia
Shawnee Heights 3, Emporia 0
Shawnee Heights 2 1 — 0
Emporia 0 0 — 0
First Half
SH — Stefine Pease (assist from Corrine Shelby), 28th minute.
SH — Kacy Covert (assist from Rachel Helmke), 34th minute.
Second Half
SH — Colleen Brennan (unassisted), 64th minute.
Shots on goal — Emporia 5, SH 13. Saves — Emporia: Nuessen 10, SH: Mallorie Monhollon 5. Total fouls — Emporia 7, SH 12.