Staunton Star - Times - Published in the Interest of the Staunton Community for Over 143 Years

The Staunton boys’ soccer team started week two of the season with a 2-1 record and high hopes to keep a good thing going. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs faced some adversity throughout the week in the form of injury, COVID quarantines, and unavoidable commitments which forced a few players to miss games.

Coming off the loss against Springfield Lutheran on Saturday at the Route 66 Kickoff Classic in Carlinville, the team’s first misfortune was losing senior striker and co-captain Ashton Copeland, who had suffered a mysterious leg injury at the end of the game. In addition, the Klocke brothers (Ford and Maverick), from Bunker Hill, were both subject to quarantine when a family member had tested positive for COVID. On top of that, senior striker Luke Dewitt, a dual-sport athlete, had a golf commitment on day three of the tournament, and senior striker Troy Albertina and sophomore striker Rhyse Rucker (also dual-sport athletes) had to run a 5K for the cross-country team before coming to the game on Tuesday. Needless to say, the Bulldogs were going to have their work cut out for them against a talented Carlinville team looking to go 3-0 in pool play.

Despite its shortcomings, the team played one of its best games of the season. While Carlinville possessed the ball for the majority of the game, the Bulldogs continued to reject and deny advance after advance. It wasn’t until the 65th minute that the Cavies finally broke through to score the game’s only goal and to advance to the championship game. Senior goalkeeper and co-captain Grant Neuhuas had nine saves on 10 shots in the effort.

With the loss to Carlinville, Staunton ended pool play at 1-2 and looked to rebound in the fifth-place game against SCC opponents Litchfield. The Bulldogs were fortunate enough to have their dual-sport athletes back and well rested for this game, but the team just looked sluggish and tired overall. Even despite the poor start, the Bulldogs would score first. Freshman midfielder Brody Hill found the back of the net after 20 minutes to put the team up 1-0 on an assist from freshman midfielder Aaron Bodner. The goal was Hill’s first career varsity goal, but the celebration would be short-lived.

Staunton took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but something just felt off. The team continued to struggle and eventually, Litchfield would answer with a goal of its own. With the game tied and the momentum clearly in Litchfield’s favor, it wouldn’t be long before the Purple Panthers struck again. This time, on an own goal by the Bulldogs. Unfortunately, the mistake would prove deadly as Litchfield claimed the victory and the fifth-place finish.

With the tournament over and Staunton facing a three-game losing streak, the team was eager to get back to action against non-conference opponents Wesclin at home on Saturday. At first, the team’s bad luck seemed to have followed them home as the Bulldogs dominated the Warriors for the first 10 minutes of the game, and then gave up another accidental own goal followed by another easy goal a few minutes later. The team looked stunned, but the feeling wouldn’t last long at all.

The boys fought back hard to tie the score at two goals apiece before the half. Once again, Brody Hill would get things rolling with his second goal of the season. Senior defender and co-captain Adam Overby was credited with the assist on Hill’s goal. Rhyse Rucker added his fourth goal of the season (unassisted) to tie the game in the 25th minute, and to solidify the comeback. Both teams played hard in the second half, but neither would budge an inch. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, as the Bulldogs snapped their three-game losing streak.

The team now looks to rest over the Labor Day weekend and come back strong next week with three away games. Tuesday, the team will travel to Raymond to take on the Lancers, and Wednesday, the team heads south to take on the Lebanon Panthers. On Thursday, South Central Conference play begins as the boys travel to Vandalia to take on the Vandals.