Two days after losing their senior co-captain and leading scorer for the season, a pair of underclassmen led the Kahoks boys soccer team to a regular season-ending victory.
Sophomore midfielder Jared Hamann scored the first two goals of his varsity career and freshman goalkeeper Brett Niedzwiecki pitched his third consecutive shutout. Niedzwiecki has blanked opponents eight times this season.
Photo by Roger Starkey
Collinsville Head Coach Myles Hensler called Niedzwiecki someone to look out for during his remaining days with the Kahoks.
“Brett’s done a great job as a freshman,” Hensler said. “To come in and play as the starting goalkeeper at the varsity level as a freshman is a lot of pressure, and he has exceeded my expectations.”
Collinsville’s 2-0 victory over Southwestern Conference rival Alton (0-6 SWC, 6-13 overall) was their fifth win in six games and evened their season record at 3-3 in the conference and 10-10-1 overall. The Redbirds dropped their fifth straight decision.
The Kahoks were playing their first game without senior forward Cody Sanftleben, who was lost for the season to injury near the end of the match Tuesday.
“You can’t really replace a guy like Cody, but everybody stepped up,” Collinsville Head Coach Myles Hensler said. “Obviously Jared Hamann stepped up tonight with the first two goals of his varsity career.”
Senior forward Alex Lamoreaux and sophomore midfielder Luis De Anda had a good match, attempting to create chances for their teammates, Hensler said. “That’s all you can ask for from your players when someone like Cody is not able to play.”
Hamann knocked home the first goal of the game on a strike from well outside the penalty box. Standing unmarked, Hamann drilled a shot into the upper right-hand corner, past the outstretched hand of junior goalkeeper Alex Weirich.
The single goal stood as the difference at halftime thanks to a cracking save from Niedzwiecki with about 30 seconds remaining before break. A rare Kahoks defensive lapse on the night left a wide-open Redbird, who shot from about 10 yards. Niedzwiecki dove left to push the shot aside and deny Alton what could have been a momentum-building goal. The rebound fell to another Redbird and Niedzwiecki made an equally brilliant save, but the play was called offside.
Hamann doubled his career varsity scoring output less than five minutes into the second period. Lying on the ground in a crowd of defenders, Hamman saw the ball bouncing toward him, so he pulled himself partially up and knocked home a left-footer to provide the final margin of victory for Collinsville. The goalie was out of place on the play because he had scampered wide to his left to save Hamann’s initial shot on goal.
Collinsville opens Regional play at 5 p.m. Tuesday when they will attempt to avenge a 3-0 loss earlier this season to O’Fallon. The game will be played at Belleville West Stadium.
