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THS soccer still winless after MVHS blanking

By Eric Sorrentino - | Sep 19, 2007

A recurring thought ran through the minds of Tonganoxie High boys soccer players and coaches after Monday night’s 8-0 loss to Mill Valley.

“They’re all really quick and they’re a good (Kansas Class) 5A team,” senior Austin Koontz said. “We have our speed, but they just outran us, most of all.”

“They’re even faster than they were the first time we saw them,” THS coach Ken Lott said of the Aug. 24 season opener. “We haven’t really gone against anybody that I can remember that’s been that fast.”

Mill Valley (6-2) spread its goals around Monday night at Chieftain Park. The Jaguars had seven different players score.

The ball was noticeably on the Chieftains side of the field for the majority of the game. Lott attributed that to Mill Valley’s speed and ball movement.

So just how fast was Mill Valley? Lott put the speed into perspective.

“Our fastest guy was probably somewhere in the middle of their slowest guy or the next guy,” Lott said.

As a result, Tonganoxie (0-8) attempted to set up an offsides trap. The intent was to make the field shorter and keep the Jaguars on their own side of the field. The scheme worked for the first eight minutes of the game, but Mill Valley’s Scott Van Kuiken broke the scoring silence at 31:49 with a goal to put MVHS ahead, 1-0.

Tonganoxie had trouble trying to set up the trap, which Lott said the team just recently learned.

Monday marked the fifth time the Chieftains have been shut out this season. But Lott said effort hasn’t been a problem during the eight-game skid.

“They’re still hanging in there and they’re still fighting,” Lott said. “That’s what I like about Tonganoxie. It doesn’t matter if we’re winning or losing. They’ll fight until the end.”

Mill Valley’s talented personnel didn’t change how Koontz felt after the game.

“A loss is a loss,” Koontz said. “It doesn’t feel good to lose a game. We’re out there trying as hard as we can. It’s still disappointing.”

How close is THS to capturing its first victory of the season?

“We’ll have some opportunities to win coming up,” Lott said. “It depends how the kids play. If they continue to build and advance, I think we can get a win. I think right now, I’m having a hard time convincing them that what I’m wanting them to do is going to work. But they feel that they can win and still believe they can win, so that’s the biggest part. You have to make sure you have the mental part, otherwise it’s never going to happen.

Scoring summary:
First half:
31:49, Mill Valley goal, Scott Van Kuiken (0-1)
31:02, Mill Valley goal, Kurt Van Kuiken (0-2)
15:23, Mill Valley goal, Spencer Nash (0-3)
9:43, Mill Valley goal, Tyler Clark (0-4)
2:10, Mill Valley goal, Alex Linthicum (0-5)
Second half:
37:17, Mill Valley goal, Spencer Nash (0-6)
33:43, Mill Valley goal, Nate Sterner (0-7)
14:49, Mill Valley goal, Taylor Reinoehl (0-8)