Regional Semis

Game 17: 24 October vs. St. James in regional semi-finals (4-1)

We begin playoffs as we began the season with a home match against the defending state champs.  And if there is one thing we know, it is that 2017 will have a new state champion in 5A. Our boys came through with a nice 4-1 win.

The game did get a little dicey as St. James cut our 2-0 lead to 2-1 with a corner kick 13-14 into the second half. Our boys, however, responded quickly with a corner of our own basically to end the match. We did tack on one more.

I am not sure if St. James had a shot from the field during the entire match. They did create 4 second-half corners on us, and they did have 2-3 scary deadballs, but overall our defense in the back and our defense in the midfield stood pretty tall all game.

BWhite recognizes freshman centerback Mitchell Farrar as the BWhite Player of the Match. He was lights out for 80 minutes. He knows when to find feet, when to just live to play another day, when to head it, and when to find the keeper's feet—pretty darn savvy for a frosh.

B also gave huge shoutouts to Esteban Arias and Jack Mason as well. Our first goal was just a great Jack Mason t-ball for an Arias' back post finish. Keep in mind Esteban is coming from the center midfield spot to get that post framed—tremendous. Esteban also started the play with a brilliant switch to Holland. 

And then Arias takes a ball out of the air to hammer it off the post and onto the foot of senior Eli Weissend for our second goal. (That second goal was big with Eli's framing the backpost an important, sometimes overlooked, detail.) Jack got a nice assist on the 4th goal to Landon as well.

We had to love our boys' mentality as St. James seized the momentum of the match when they cut the 2-0 match to a 2-1 match. We immediately earned a corner, and then cashed it. 

The boys played well.  We now bring in Seaman out of Topeka to try to get our crazy regional championship string going (We have 25, 15 straight!).

I do want to mention our after-match prayer with St. James. Senior keeper Jake Dunsmore lead both teams in a heartfelt prayer followed by a Hail Mary. That prayer was so humble and aware. What a class act. And he made some great saves tonight as well. That young man makes you proud, and he is the EKL Goalkeeper of the Year to boot.

STATS:

First Half: Saints: Shots: 4 (3) Corners: 6 (Wirt 3, Curt 2, Mason)

11:57 Arias (Holland finds Mason who T's it perfectly)

Thunder: Shots: 0 (0) Corners: 0

Second Half: Saints: Shots: 6 (4) Corners: 7 (Wirt 2, Este 2, Curt, Parker, Weissend)

33:23 Weissend (Whigham's D-ball gets headed off the post by Arias)

26:12 Caragher (Whigham's corner gets a Farrar header off the post)

3:28 Wirt (Mason's through ball)

Thunder: Shots: 3 (3) Corners: 4

28:55 Bass (Foster's corner bends into the near post)

Aquinas upends St. James soccer, 4-1; all-EKL team announced

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Overland Park — St. James Academy boys soccer coach Rick Enna felt that his team was capable of another state title run despite a disappointing regular season record, but it was not to be for the Thunder.

St. Thomas Aquinas applied relentless pressure against the St. James back line and goalkeeper Jake Dunsmore with 10 corner kicks en route to handing the Thunder a 4-1 loss in the Class 5A Northeast regional semifinals on Tuesday.

"That's their thing. Aquinas is great on set pieces and they execute them well," Enna said. "Where we succeed against Aquinas is when we're able to match their intensity on the set pieces, really, and also stay discipline in the midfield. I think where the game got away from us is we lost our discipline in the midfield."

The Saints (11-4-2) struck first when Esteban Arias blasted home a cross from Jack Mason in the 29th minute. Aquinas took the 1-0 advantage into the half, but didn't waste much time in adding to its lead after the break. In the 47th minute, Arias ripped a shot off of the post before Eli Weissend tapped in the rebound opportunity to put the Saints up, 2-0.

The Thunder (4-12-1) had an answer, though, in the 52nd minute when Jonathan Bass scored on a header following a corner kick to cut the deficit in half. Enna said that the Thunder were right back in it, but the Saints responded two minutes later when Joey Caragher scored off of another Aquinas corner.

"That third goal was a killer. We just didn't mark," Enna said. "It is was it is. It this stage of the game, our guys were ready to play and so were theirs. It was a matter of who made mistakes and who executed. They did a better job executing and that's the difference."

The Saints added an insurance goal in the 77th minute from Landon Wirt to bring the final to 4-1. Aquinas advanced to the regional final against Topeka Seaman (11-6), which will take place at 6:30 p.m. 

Following the match, both teams gathered as Dunsmore led both teams in prayer. Dunsmore prayed for the Thunder's rival to have a long postseason run and for the Saints to stay healthy.

Enna said the moment following the game was indicative of the type of person Dunsmore was, and that it was a testament to the respect that the two teams have for each other.

"Every guy on our team has taken a knee at some point, whether it's in practice or in games, to give thanks and to pray for our opponents. That wasn't just Jake or just St. James," Enna said. "That was St. James and Aquinas coming together as a community even though we're rivals and giving thanks for the privilege of playing this game. It's just two great communities — still a great rivalry. They got us this year. I'm already thinking about next year."

While Enna is looking forward to next year, he shared another special moment on the bench with his son, Sam Enna, following the match. The loss to the Saints marked the end of the forward's high school career, and the last time that he will be coached by his dad. Rick Enna has had the opportunity to coach three of his four kids. He coached his oldest son Steven and youngest daughter Lizzy at St. James, while his oldest daughter Emily played at Aquinas.

"This was a bittersweet game for me. I really wanted this season to last," Rick Enna said. "I started coaching in 1995 before my kids started playing soccer. It was a couple of years in, I've got this picture of me and three of my four kids. Sam wasn't even born yet."

The St. James coach added, "Here today with this game, I just coached for the last time one of my kids with Sam graduating. It's pretty amazing how time flies. It's been wonderful coaching for all of these years. I'm very excited about next year, but it's unbelievable to think that I have no more kids to coach in high school."

All-EKL team announced

Prior to the match between the Thunder and the Saints, the all-Eastern Kansas League soccer team was announced on Monday.

Dunsmore was tabbed as the EKL Goalie of the Year and a first-team selection to highlight the honors for the Thunder.

"Jake is a class act. He's a great goalie. He's kept us in many games," Enna said. "Over the years, he's helped win many games. He was a key reason that we were the state champions, and he's one of the key reasons why we felt we had another run in us this year. Whenever you have a guy that can lead from the back like that, he truly is the best keeper, I think, in the EKL and the state in my opinion."

Sam Enna and Matt DuBois were named as all-league second team selections, while James Foster, Francis Nguyen, Luis Alvarado and Bass were picked as honorable mentions.

Mill Valley junior Jake Ashford was selected as the EKL Midfielder of the Year. Ashford and Ian Carroll represented the Jaguars on the all-league first team.

The Jaguars had two second-team selection in Brock Denney and Aidan Veal, and Kyle Franklin, Isaac Knapp, Brent Stevenson and Bradley Teasley were all named as honorable mentions.

Other top all-league honors went to Blue Valley West's Noah Mabry (Forward of the Year), Bishop Miege's Alex Rotert (Defender of the Year), BV Southwest's Jason Pendleton (Coach of the Year), Blue Valley's John Dale (Assistant Coach of the Year) and Gordon Wetmore (Referee of the Year).