The Collinsville High School boys soccer team thought they had righted the ship when they won the second game of the CYC Bob Guelker tournament Wednesday, only to suffer their worst defeat of the season Thursday.
Luis De Anda battles a Francis Howell Central opponent / Photo by Alex Paz
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The Kahoks (4-7-1) bowed to St. Louis University High (8- 4) in the opening game of the tournament by a 4-0 score. It was the second straight big shutout loss by Collinsville and their third consecutive loss.
Collinsville Head Coach Myles Hensler hoped the 1-0 win over Lindbergh (2-6) Wednesday would mean the Kahoks had turned a corner. “For us to get a goal in the first 15 minutes and continue to press on them was a character builder for us,” Hensler said. “I think the boys responded to it.”
The match Thursday had barely begun before the Kahoks looked like the team that lost three straight games by a combined 11-1 score before Wednesday’ match, rather than the team that earned a quality win the previous match. Francis Howell Central (3-5) jumped the Kahoks for two goals in the first five minutes Thursday and never looked back.
Howell pushed their lead to 4-0 by halftime and tacked on another in the second half as they cruised to a 5-0 victory. Howell scored all of their goals on defensive lapses by the Kahoks.
“It had nothing to do with the goalkeeper, it was the concept of ball watching, you cannot do that,” Hensler said. “We have to make sure we know where our guy is at all times and not let him get behind us and get easy scoring chances.”
Hensler was visibly frustrated with the results of the Howell match.
“For us to come out and have the type of showing on the third day of a tournament like this, it’s just unacceptable.” Hensler said. “I don’t know if they aren’t mentally prepared at the right time, but us coming out and not having any passion or any sense of urgency or wanting to come out of this tournament 2-1 is just unacceptable.”
The Howell and SLUH match were further examples of an issue the Kahoks have been struggling with all season. When they trail by two goals, they become deflated, Hensler said.
“That’s something we have to fix right away because there are going to be times that we’re going to be down 1-0 or 2-0 and we’ll have to fight our way out,” Hensler said. “Right now it is a concern with us.”
Collinsville’s next match is at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at Granite City.
