The Emporia High girls soccer team got its season off to a fine start at the Titan Classic in Wichita, getting two goals from Rachelle VanGundy and shutting out Wichita Southeast 3-0.
In the game’s 21st minute, VanGundy got a through-pass by Jessica Madrigal and got into a one-on-one situation with the Southeast goalkeeper, firing it to her left to make it 1-0. EHS, going against a strong south wind in the first half, took that lead to halftime.
“Had some chances and a few breakaways but could not finish for awhile,” EHS coach John Decker said. “... (We) controlled most of the game and never gave them any good scoring chances. (I) was able to get all players a chance to play and tried out some different combinations.”
VanGundy got a pass from Jordan Sosa in the game’s 58th minute and launched a high shot inside the far post for her second goal. Emily Burris tallied the Spartans’ third and final goal at the 64:18 mark, dribbling past a defender for a one-on-one with the keeper and pushing a shot past her into the net.
With the victory, Emporia advances to the second round of the Titan Classic’s Red bracket. The Spartans will take on Derby at 5:30 p.m. Friday following Derby’s 5-0 victory over Liberal on Wednesday.
“Hopefully everyone got all of their first-game jitters out of their system and we can build on what we accomplished tonight,” Decker said.