Aquinas gets by Emporia and into the Kansas 5A state soccer final

TOPEKA | St. Thomas Aquinas coach Craig Ewing has seen enough soccer games over a long career to know that simply dominating possession and scoring opportunities isn’t always enough. Eventually, one of those chances has to go in.

And for the Saints on Friday night, eventually one did.

By the end of the team’s Kansas 5A state semifinal game, Aquinas’ scorebook had the Saints down for 12 corner kicks and a 25-1 shot advantage over Emporia. Only one of those shots found the back of the net, but that was all the Saints needed this time.

Senior George Skevington scored off a corner kick by senior Tommy Harrison in the 54th minute and sent Aquinas to a 1-0 win over Emporia at Hummer Sports Park and continued the team’s quest for its first undefeated season since 1994.

The Saints, 20-0 and seeking their seventh consecutive state championship, will play Bishop Miege today at 2 p.m. in the 5A state finals.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, so I’ve seen teams lose games even though they dominate games. So that’s what (I was) thinking,” Ewing said.

“… But the one thing I’d say about us is that we’re good on our set pieces, and we create lots of set pieces. So that gives us an advantage because we’re probably going to score on one of those.”

On the one that eventually went in, Harrison sent a corner kick toward the far post. Skevington corralled it on the ground and slid it into the net for his eighth goal of the season — and sixth in the last six games.

“I knew we were going to get one,” Skevington said. “It was just a matter of time.”

The Aquinas defense was typically stout in front of senior goalkeeper Colby Martin. The Saints have allowed a mere three goals in their last 13 games.

Emporia, 13-6-1, will play Liberal, 16-4 in the third-place game today at noon.

Bishop Miege returns to state title gameBishop Miege coach Joe Huppe told Zach Pettet as a freshman that he was going to become a standout goalkeeper for the team by his later varsity years, even though at that time Pettet had never played the position.

On Friday night, in the biggest moment of his varsity career, Pettet came up huge for the Stags, making a save on Liberal’s third attempt in a penalty-kick shootout to lead the team to an eventual 1-0 victory in the 5A state semifinals.

“He was fabulous,” Huppe said.

After two scoreless halves and four scoreless overtime periods, Miege and Liberal were left to decide the game in a shootout.

Brad Deghand and Devin Zvosec scored on Miege’s first two attempts, while Liberal’s second shooter missed wide left of the net. After Liberal’s Frederic Gomez denied Miege’s Beau Ramirez, Pettet responded against the next shooter with a lunging save to his right.

AJ Mohler and Alex Pint each followed with goals for Miege to clinch the win.

“At times we’re offensively challenged, but they just seem to find a way,” Huppe said.

The Stags are back in the state championship game for the first time since winning the 5A state title in 2000.

St. James makes first 4A-1A finalSt. James Academy reached a new height for its young program with a dramatic victory Friday night in Towanda, advancing to the 4A-1A boys soccer state title game for the first time.

The Thunder and Rose Hill took a one-goal tie through four overtime periods before ultimately settling their semifinal game in a shootout.

St. James senior goalkeeper Carlo Brunelli made a diving save on Rose Hill’s fourth attempt of the shootout, and Steve Loya followed with the clinching score that sealed a 2-1 victory for the Thunder.

Alec Bartlett scored the Thunder’s lone goal in regulation, while Gil Williams, Zach Kohlrus, Frankie Zitnik and Loya all converted during the shootout.

St. James, 11-9, advances to play Berean Academy, 15-4, today at 2 p.m.

Berean Academy defeated De Soto, 2-0, in the other semifinal, scoring once in each half.

De Soto coach Darren Erpelding felt his team dominated the game in every way but the score.

“We’re so disappointed because we still feel that we’re the best team in the state, but unless you do it on the scoreboard it doesn’t really matter,” Erpelding said.

submitted by RYAN YOUNG - 2009-11-06 23:25:02

Comments - leave comment