West University Examiner - Sports
Knights boys, girls swept in soccer twinbill
By MIKE TENNEY
The Episcopal boys and girls soccer teams lost both ends of a 2008-ending doubleheader Friday night, falling to Concordia Lutheran in windy Tomball.
The boys were tied at two before the Crusaders, who are a TAPPS Division II soccer power, scored the final three goals to win 5-2.
The girls, who have 12 sophomores and only two seniors on the roster, surrendered two first-half goals and they stood up in a Concordia Lutheran 2-0 win in the first game of the twinbill.
The boys were right there with the Crusaders after senior midfielder Colin Burger tapped back in forward Joseph Roys’ near-miss with 32:15 to play in the second half to knot the game at two.
But after that, the Knights had a few bad bounces of the ball, a couple of shaky red-cards that had them playing two men down duirng the final 20 minutes. there were also a couple of penalty kicks against them.
“It’s frustrating to know we battled back on two different occasions, but…,” said head coach Travis Smith, his voice trailing off. “They’re a very good team. But we were missing a couple of starters, and then you take out two more with red cards and it makes a difference. We get our first red cards of the year, and then we run into problems that we have trouble solving.”
They fell behind almost immediately as the Crusaders snuck one into the net five minutes just into the game.
But Episcopal appeared to first tie the game and then take the lead at about the 14th minute, but three consecutive offsides calls on the Knights when they had breakaway opportunities took two goals off the board.
“Questionable calls are part of the game,” said Smith. “Those offsides calls took some momentum out of us, no doubt. We thought we got one in to tie it, and they said we were offsides. Then we come back and the same thing happens. It’s frustrating, but that’s how the game goes sometimes.”
Still, the Knights kept the pressure on until Episcopal freshman forward Scott Finnegan knotted it at one, taking a header off a corner kick and banging it into the net in the 25th minute of play.
However, five minutes later, the Crusaders got loose on a fastbreak and put it home to grab a 2-1 advantage they would also hold at halftime.
Smith said when the Knights did again come back to tie the game at two, he was worried about complacency.
“I was worried that we would relax and that’s what we did,” he said. “But they didn’t relax. They just came at us and came at us and came at us. We needed to match their intensity right there and we didn’t. We did at moments in the game, but not the full 80 moments.”
The home team’s next two goals were somewhat controversial, at least on the Episcopal side.
The Crusaders’ go-ahead shot was cleanly handled by Knights goalie David McLean, who was simply brilliant all night in the face of a consistent onslaught. He caught the ball, but lost it for a second. When he dove on it to keep it from rolling, the referee ruled the ball over the line, despite a few Episcopal defenders standing 3 feet away questioning the call.
That came in the 54th minute and gave the Crusaders a 3-2 margin.
In the 72nd minute, the first red card came out on Episcopal for what appeared to be a clean tackle in the box by defender Ryan Manoongian, but the referee saw it different and the Episcopal sophomore was gone with a penalty kick to come.
Concordia Lutheran converted the penalty kick and was up 4-2 with a man advantage for the rest of the game.
In the 85th minute, Roys was called for the same type of play and again the red card was held high for everyone to see. That gave Concordia Lutheran a two-man advantage with Roys also ejected.
The Crusaders missed the PK, but were now able to find a constantly open man, and they added one more goal in the 89th minute of play.
The team did get a lift from the return of senior forward Raz Forsten, who was playing with the Knights for just the second time this season. He showed some nifty moves in the open field and should be on hand for the rest of the year.
“Just having him makes such a difference for us,” said Smith. “We just need to come together as a team now that we have him and we’re going to continue to work toward that.”
For the Episcopal girls, they put up a great defensive effort against a more-experienced Concordia Lutheran team, but their youth really showed on offense as they could only must four good shots on goal the entire game.
Midfielder Leslie Parker and defender Hilary Mundinger are the only two seniors on the team and both are starters for the Knights.
But Parker had to leave the game in the 47th minute when she was clobbered near midfield while chasing a loose ball. No call was made. After the game, she left the field walking very gingerly on a right ankle that was wrapped heavily in ice.
Mundinger and her defensive mates of sophomore Drew Cowan, freshman Sydney Dupre and sophomore Rachel Hutchins, along with junior goalie Charlsie Neutzler, did a good job of keeping the Crusaders in check most of the day.
Two goals scored 15 minutes apart in the first half proved to be the difference.
The Crusaders first point on the board came on a beautiful kick from about 30 yards away that sailed over Neutzler head, but underneath the cross bar to make it 1-0.
In the 35th minute, in a crowd, Neutzler had her hands on a high corner kick, but it got away for the second and last goal.
The Knights did have a couple of breakaway opportunities offensively in the second half, but were unable to convert them.
Both teams are now off until the first week of the new year. Play resumes with Southwest Preparatory Conference action beginning the second weekend of January.
The boys were tied at two before the Crusaders, who are a TAPPS Division II soccer power, scored the final three goals to win 5-2.
The girls, who have 12 sophomores and only two seniors on the roster, surrendered two first-half goals and they stood up in a Concordia Lutheran 2-0 win in the first game of the twinbill.
The boys were right there with the Crusaders after senior midfielder Colin Burger tapped back in forward Joseph Roys’ near-miss with 32:15 to play in the second half to knot the game at two.
But after that, the Knights had a few bad bounces of the ball, a couple of shaky red-cards that had them playing two men down duirng the final 20 minutes. there were also a couple of penalty kicks against them.
“It’s frustrating to know we battled back on two different occasions, but…,” said head coach Travis Smith, his voice trailing off. “They’re a very good team. But we were missing a couple of starters, and then you take out two more with red cards and it makes a difference. We get our first red cards of the year, and then we run into problems that we have trouble solving.”
They fell behind almost immediately as the Crusaders snuck one into the net five minutes just into the game.
But Episcopal appeared to first tie the game and then take the lead at about the 14th minute, but three consecutive offsides calls on the Knights when they had breakaway opportunities took two goals off the board.
“Questionable calls are part of the game,” said Smith. “Those offsides calls took some momentum out of us, no doubt. We thought we got one in to tie it, and they said we were offsides. Then we come back and the same thing happens. It’s frustrating, but that’s how the game goes sometimes.”
Still, the Knights kept the pressure on until Episcopal freshman forward Scott Finnegan knotted it at one, taking a header off a corner kick and banging it into the net in the 25th minute of play.
However, five minutes later, the Crusaders got loose on a fastbreak and put it home to grab a 2-1 advantage they would also hold at halftime.
Smith said when the Knights did again come back to tie the game at two, he was worried about complacency.
“I was worried that we would relax and that’s what we did,” he said. “But they didn’t relax. They just came at us and came at us and came at us. We needed to match their intensity right there and we didn’t. We did at moments in the game, but not the full 80 moments.”
The home team’s next two goals were somewhat controversial, at least on the Episcopal side.
The Crusaders’ go-ahead shot was cleanly handled by Knights goalie David McLean, who was simply brilliant all night in the face of a consistent onslaught. He caught the ball, but lost it for a second. When he dove on it to keep it from rolling, the referee ruled the ball over the line, despite a few Episcopal defenders standing 3 feet away questioning the call.
That came in the 54th minute and gave the Crusaders a 3-2 margin.
In the 72nd minute, the first red card came out on Episcopal for what appeared to be a clean tackle in the box by defender Ryan Manoongian, but the referee saw it different and the Episcopal sophomore was gone with a penalty kick to come.
Concordia Lutheran converted the penalty kick and was up 4-2 with a man advantage for the rest of the game.
In the 85th minute, Roys was called for the same type of play and again the red card was held high for everyone to see. That gave Concordia Lutheran a two-man advantage with Roys also ejected.
The Crusaders missed the PK, but were now able to find a constantly open man, and they added one more goal in the 89th minute of play.
The team did get a lift from the return of senior forward Raz Forsten, who was playing with the Knights for just the second time this season. He showed some nifty moves in the open field and should be on hand for the rest of the year.
“Just having him makes such a difference for us,” said Smith. “We just need to come together as a team now that we have him and we’re going to continue to work toward that.”
For the Episcopal girls, they put up a great defensive effort against a more-experienced Concordia Lutheran team, but their youth really showed on offense as they could only must four good shots on goal the entire game.
Midfielder Leslie Parker and defender Hilary Mundinger are the only two seniors on the team and both are starters for the Knights.
But Parker had to leave the game in the 47th minute when she was clobbered near midfield while chasing a loose ball. No call was made. After the game, she left the field walking very gingerly on a right ankle that was wrapped heavily in ice.
Mundinger and her defensive mates of sophomore Drew Cowan, freshman Sydney Dupre and sophomore Rachel Hutchins, along with junior goalie Charlsie Neutzler, did a good job of keeping the Crusaders in check most of the day.
Two goals scored 15 minutes apart in the first half proved to be the difference.
The Crusaders first point on the board came on a beautiful kick from about 30 yards away that sailed over Neutzler head, but underneath the cross bar to make it 1-0.
In the 35th minute, in a crowd, Neutzler had her hands on a high corner kick, but it got away for the second and last goal.
The Knights did have a couple of breakaway opportunities offensively in the second half, but were unable to convert them.
Both teams are now off until the first week of the new year. Play resumes with Southwest Preparatory Conference action beginning the second weekend of January.
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