Photo by Carly Pearson
Emporia High's Carlos Antonio keeps the ball away from Highland Park defender Joel Martinez at TRYSA. The Spartans won the match, 5-0.
If the Emporia High boys soccer team is going to make good on its goal of qualifying for the State tournament, it has to start with beating teams like Highland Park in Sub-State action.
The Spartans had little trouble accomplishing that Tuesday night at TRYSA, as the third-seeded Spartans took out the sixth-seeded Scots, 5-0, in the Sub-State semifinals.
With the victory, Emporia (12-4-0) moved to within one win of reaching the State tournament. The Spartans’ chance comes at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka against No. 2-seeded Shawnee Heights, which beat Salina South, 3-0, Thursday night.
“Now we have to get one more win, and then I’ll feel really good,” EHS coach Steve Pearson said. “Our guys did very good today.”
Emporia got all the scoring it would need just 2 minutes, 15 seconds into the game when Alex Guevara put a header into the net off a cross from Luis Ibarra to make it 1-0.
“It was a nice pass from Luis,” Guevara said. “We passed the ball very well tonight. I didn’t expect it to come to my head, but it was right there.”
The Spartans continued their offensive attack all night long after that.
Emporia got its second score of the night with 11 minutes to go in the first half when Ibarra again sent a cross into the front of the net. Waiting was Luis Guzman, who turned and fired a shot, only to have the ball bounce right back off a Highland Park defender.
Guzman didn’t miss a second time, sending a rocket into the left corner of the net to put EHS up, 2-0.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Emporia High's Gary Rivera fights for the ball against two Highland Park players Tuesday night at TRYSA.
With four and a half minutes left in the first, Emporia’s Carlos Antonio found a little bit of good fortune in recording the Spartans’ third score of the night.
After working his way through the defense in front of the net, Antonio took a rolling shot from the left side of the box. Highland Park goalkeeper Juan Avina got to the ball easily enough, but did not bend down far enough to keep the ball from slinking through his legs and into the goal.
“The ball was kind of slippery, so maybe that helped me,” Antonio said. “I planned to put it inside the left post, but he got there. It just slipped out of his hands.”
By the end of the first half, Emporia held a 3-0 lead and had out-shot the Scots, 15-4, including a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal. At game’s end, the Spartans had out-shot Highland Park 31-4 — the Scots did not get off a shot attempt in the second half.
“Our goal was to keep (Highland Park’s) Lehi Ortega from scoring and let our offense do its job,” Pearson said. “Once we figured out how to keep him (Ortega) away from the goal, then everybody was going for the goal. I even had defenders shooting at the goal.”
Antonio and Guevara each scored again in the second half to help EHS pull away from the Scots (6-11-0).
Guevara was first, recording his second goal of the night midway through the half when he knocked home a rebound off a Guzman miss that made it 4-0.
Antonio capped the scoring with just less than 20 minutes left, finding the back of the net after getting free after a corner kick from Guevara.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Emporia High's Luis Guzman (20) is congratulated by teammates Adam Sanchez (21) and Alex Guevara (18) after scoring a goal in the first half of the Spartans’ soccer game against Highland Park.
Now, standing in the Spartans’ way of a trip to the State tournament is a Shawnee Heights team that defeated the Spartans, 1-0, at TRYSA on Oct. 11.
“Thursday’s going to be a hard game,” Antonio said. “We have to be almost perfect in that game. Winning that game will give us our dream of making it to State.”
Emporia 5, Highland Park 0
Tuesday at TRYSA
Highland Park 0 0 — 0
Emporia 3 2 — 5
First Half
Emp — Alex Guevara (from Luis Ibarra)
Emp — Luis Guzman (unassisted)
Emp — Carlos Antonio (unassisted)
Second Half
Emp — Guevara (unassisted)
Emp — Antonio (unassisted)
Shots on goal — HP 3, Emporia 21. Saves — HP: Juan Avina and Miguel Encinas 16; Emporia: Spencer Anderson and Cory Obermeyer 3. Corner kicks — HP 2, Emporia 3. Fouls — HP 10, Emporia 13. Yellow cards — HP: Miguel Encinas. Emporia: Gary Rivera.
Records — HP (6-11-0); Emporia (12-4-0)
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