Miege tops Harmon, advances to state semifinals

Jim Barcus | The Kansas City Star

Bishop Miege’s Alex Pint, who battled Harmon’s Alan Ortiz for the ball, scored an early goal in Miege’s 3-1 win over Harmon on Tuesday.

more boys soccer...

• Park Hill gets a draw in state soccer; Pius falls to Kennedy
• St. Pius, Park Hill both fall in state soccer semifinals
• St. Pius X, Park Hill soccer teams in state semifinals today
• Park Hill, St. Pius X advance to state semis in boys soccer
• Park Hill soccer ends 26-year state tourney drought

you might also like...

• Aquinas gets by Emporia and into the Kansas 5A state soccer final
• Miege soccer team comes up one win short
• Miege girls lose in Kansas 5A semifinals
• Bishop Miege girls fall to Bishop Carroll in semifinals
• Aquinas, St. James roll to easy wins

The corner kick opportunities kept coming in the first half for the Bishop Miege Stags in their Kansas Class 5A quarterfinal game against Harmon. But time after time, the Stags could not successfully convert them into something worthwhile.

After one failed attempt, the annoyance showed for senior Pat Lynn, who wondered aloud how many times his team had blown well-placed balls. Then, Miege found a different way to score.

On Tuesday afternoon, behind a pair of second-half penalty kicks, Miege defeated Harmon 3-1. The Stags, 14-4, have advanced to the state semifinals which begin Friday in Topeka. This will be the team’s first trip to the final four since 2000.

“This is the best season I’ve had since being at Bishop Miege,” said senior midfielder Brad Deghand, whose penalty kick broke the 1-1 tie. “We really feel confident going into state. We think that we can make a run.”

Behind senior midfielder Alex Pint’s goal in the opening minutes, Miege roused Harmon awake with a 1-0 lead. The Hawks answered back when senior forward Carlos Hernandez tapped one in softly behind Miege goalkeeper Zach Pettet.

Then, the teams locked into a defensive struggle. Although the Stags controlled the ball much of the time, at least seven of their corner kick plays fell flat and the score remained 1-1 at halftime.

“Frustrating first half,” coach Joe Huppe said. “We (have) blown set pieces all year so we told the kids to stay calm, that we’d have plenty of opportunities.”

Huppe’s prediction came true in the second half when Harmon was twice called for fouls in the box, resulting in penalty-kick goals for Miege.

Harmon ends the season with a 13-2-1 record after advancing farther than any Hawk team has in 10 years, according to coach Jeff Dysart.

“You hate to lose the way we lost,” Dysart said. “(But) this is the best team we have coached.”

•AQUINAS ADVANCES: St. Thomas Aquinas joined Miege in the Kansas 5A state semifinals. Aquinas improved to 19-0 with a 2-1 win over Shawnee Heights.

Comments - leave comment