The Kahoks boys soccer team won two of three matches in less than 24 hours to capture third place in the Missouri/Illinois Challenge bracket of the Gateway City Soccer Classic this past weekend.
Austin Mefford / Photo by Alex Paz / Buy this and other Kahoks photos at www.pazimages.com
Collinsville (1-3 Southwestern Conference, 6-9-1 overall) was scuffling entering the tournament, losing five of their previous six matches. Looking for a way to spark his club, Head Coach Myles Hensler added some new blood to the roster.
“We brought up some new players,” Hensler said. “That’s just to push everybody, to let them know that other people are working for their spots.”
The plan seemed to have worked. After scoring only two goals in their previous six contests, Collinsville scored six in the three-game tournament, which took place Oct. 4-5.
The Kahoks began the tournament with a 2-0 victory Friday evening over Cape Central (8-9), of Cape Girardeau, Mo. Senior midfielder Cody Sanftleben scored both goals for the Kahoks. It was the first game in which the Kahoks scored more than one goal since a Sept. 14, 2-0 triumph over Triad.
Eventual tournament champion Glendale (6-4-1), of Springfield Mo., provided the only blemish on Collinsville’s tournament record with a 4-1 victory in a match that kicked off Saturday at 11 a.m. Senior defender Austin Mefford put the Kahoks on the board first in a match that Hensler said could have turned out differently.
“We could have had a better result,” Hensler said. “They still played pretty well, just a couple of let downs, and we gave up in the second half.”
Collinsville bounced back later in the day to secure a 3-2 victory over Cape Notre Dame (7-9-2), of Cape Girardeau, Mo. After jumping on top 3-0 with goals from senior forward Alex Lamoreaux, sophomore midfielder Luis De Anda and varsity newcomer, freshman defender Sam Vlasak, CHS nearly let the game get away.
“Our guys let off the gas and let them get back in it,” Hensler said. “We pulled out the victory, but we’ve got to learn from that. We can’t do that to teams in our conference or in the postseason because that just gives them new life and new energy.”
O’Fallon and CHS finished the tournament with 2-1 records, but the Panthers won the tiebreaker by allowing only three goals compared to the Kahoks six.
Collinsville returns to action at 6:45 tonight at Kahok Stadium against Gibault (11-2-4). Hensler expects a tough contest. “They’ve got a good squad with a lot of good technical players,” Hensler said.
