For the first time, the Kansas Soccer Coaches Association held an all-star game to honor the achievements of its outstanding athletes.
“We had a good time this weekend,” said Rose Hill head coach Jerry Treat. “We think we had a great turnout for this weekend. Everything went beyond our expectations.”
Matched up in an East vs. West format, the best girls in the state put on a scoring exhibition, with the East getting a late goal to win 5-4.
Olathe East’s Kate Atkins put her East squad on top early, capitalizing on a perfectly placed through ball in the first five minutes.
Atkins struck early for the East, but her night of scoring was far from over. Atkins had a four-goal game and was a no-brainer for the first MVP award to be handed out at the all-star game.
“I didn’t come in here thinking I was going to be like that,” said Atkins. “But it’s nice it turned out that way. Really cool.”
Her second goal put the East on top 2-0 with a dribbling move around a West defender to free up space to bang home the goal.
But the West picked it up after the slow start. Bishop Carroll forward Rachel Wiesen put the West on the board and cut the East lead in half at 2-1, and minutes later Kaitlyn Neuschafer from Salina Central gave the West the equalizer and knotted the game at 2-2.
“We got down 2-0 and we were all kind of thinking, ‘We’ve got to get it back,’” said Neuschafer. Then we scored the first goal. The second one went in and we were like, ‘Hey, we’re back in this.’ We kept going at them and we stayed in it.”
The score remained 2-2 at the half, but in the first two minutes of the second half, Victoria Schimming from Kapaun put the West on top with a quick goal.
Down 3-2, the East relied on Atkins to get the job done. Atkins answered with back-to-back goals to give the East a 4-3 lead.
Wiesen tied the game up with her second goal of the game, but with five seconds left in the game, Margaret Ault from Topeka slipped one into the net to wrap up a 5-4 win.
The boys game ended in a 1-1 tie, but could have just as easily been 10-10. Both teams had good looks at the net, all throughout the game, and did everything but finish.
Late in the first half Hays standout Soriba Camara, found the ball on his foot and pounded a shot to the top shelf to put the West up 1-0.
For his efforts, Camara was named the MVP of the boys game.
“It’s awesome,” said Camara. “I really work hard for this so I’m pretty proud.”
From all the scoring chances for both teams, it seemed certain the Camara goal would not stand on its own.
The West was the first team to put pressure on the net in the second have, narrowly missing on a free kick. Camara had a ball come right to him but rang a shot off the crossbar.
The East put a number of breakaway opportunities a few inches outside the post before they were awarded a penalty shot with a chance to tie the game.
But the shot sailed high and wide, and the 1-0 lead was safe for the West.
But the hard-charging East team kept moving forward and was rewarded with a goal from Adrian Martinez to tie the game at 1-1.
“The kids had a good time,” said Treat. “Which is kind of the bottom line, that everybody has a good time.”
“We had a good time this weekend,” said Rose Hill head coach Jerry Treat. “We think we had a great turnout for this weekend. Everything went beyond our expectations.”
Matched up in an East vs. West format, the best girls in the state put on a scoring exhibition, with the East getting a late goal to win 5-4.
Olathe East’s Kate Atkins put her East squad on top early, capitalizing on a perfectly placed through ball in the first five minutes.
Atkins struck early for the East, but her night of scoring was far from over. Atkins had a four-goal game and was a no-brainer for the first MVP award to be handed out at the all-star game.
“I didn’t come in here thinking I was going to be like that,” said Atkins. “But it’s nice it turned out that way. Really cool.”
Her second goal put the East on top 2-0 with a dribbling move around a West defender to free up space to bang home the goal.
But the West picked it up after the slow start. Bishop Carroll forward Rachel Wiesen put the West on the board and cut the East lead in half at 2-1, and minutes later Kaitlyn Neuschafer from Salina Central gave the West the equalizer and knotted the game at 2-2.
“We got down 2-0 and we were all kind of thinking, ‘We’ve got to get it back,’” said Neuschafer. Then we scored the first goal. The second one went in and we were like, ‘Hey, we’re back in this.’ We kept going at them and we stayed in it.”
The score remained 2-2 at the half, but in the first two minutes of the second half, Victoria Schimming from Kapaun put the West on top with a quick goal.
Down 3-2, the East relied on Atkins to get the job done. Atkins answered with back-to-back goals to give the East a 4-3 lead.
Wiesen tied the game up with her second goal of the game, but with five seconds left in the game, Margaret Ault from Topeka slipped one into the net to wrap up a 5-4 win.
The boys game ended in a 1-1 tie, but could have just as easily been 10-10. Both teams had good looks at the net, all throughout the game, and did everything but finish.
Late in the first half Hays standout Soriba Camara, found the ball on his foot and pounded a shot to the top shelf to put the West up 1-0.
For his efforts, Camara was named the MVP of the boys game.
“It’s awesome,” said Camara. “I really work hard for this so I’m pretty proud.”
From all the scoring chances for both teams, it seemed certain the Camara goal would not stand on its own.
The West was the first team to put pressure on the net in the second have, narrowly missing on a free kick. Camara had a ball come right to him but rang a shot off the crossbar.
The East put a number of breakaway opportunities a few inches outside the post before they were awarded a penalty shot with a chance to tie the game.
But the shot sailed high and wide, and the 1-0 lead was safe for the West.
But the hard-charging East team kept moving forward and was rewarded with a goal from Adrian Martinez to tie the game at 1-1.
“The kids had a good time,” said Treat. “Which is kind of the bottom line, that everybody has a good time.”
