BULLPUP KICKERS TAKE DOWN ANDOVER
By William for www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
(Post is SPONSORED BY CROSSDOVE WRITERS)
MAIZE – Round one of the eight-team Maize South Soccer Tournament is done and the McPherson High boys soccer team came out of the day with a 2-1 victory over Andover on Tuesday.
Both the Bullpups scores came in the second half, with Rhett Edmonson scoring the first goal of the day and then gave an assist to the Bullpups second and game-winning goal that came from Drew Schrader.
McPherson had a total of six shots on goal for the game while senior Bullpup goalkeeper Nathan Lloyd made seven saves.
“This team once again pulled out a good win against a quality opponent,” noted Bullpup Head Coach Chris Adrian. “Andover was bigger and stronger in a lot of positions, but I though the team played hard and smart. The first half we were against a strong wind, so we set up a little more defensive and tried to look to play on the counter-attack. Nathan (Lloyd) had a few saves to make and looked good after missing the last game due to injury.”
Concluding his reflections on the game itself, Coach Adrian continued by saying, “The second half was all about keeping the play in front of us and waiting for Andover to make a mistake in their defensive end which is exactly what happened with the first goal. Rhett (Edmonson) once again showed how important a player he is for this team scoring the first goal and assisting with the second. He continues to impress after coming off a major knee injury last winter. Drew (Schrader) put in another physically demanding shift tonight and scored the game winner in the final 15 minutes. It wasn’t our best performance of the year and I definitely could have prepared the team better, but I was really pleased to see this team grind out a result. It’s a special group of guys that have a lot of confidence in each other.”
With the win over Andover in game one of the tournament, the Bullpups will now have a battle with Salina South on Thursday.
Looking ahead to the rematch with Salina South, Coach Adrian said, “The win sets up a rematch against Salina South from less than a week ago. I have no doubt Salina South is going to come out even stronger than last week as they will be looking for a little revenge no doubt. They also breezed through their first-round game, winning 10-0 over Thomas More Prep, and were able to rest a lot of players. I’m really looking forward to the matchup and can’t wait to see how this team responds to the challenge.”
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