Boys soccer falls to Lincoln Southwest, claims state runner-up trophy

Down 1-0 in the second half, the Westside boys varsity soccer team created opportunity after opportunity, barely missing out on the tying goal. But missed opportunities are not how the team will be remembered — the team will be remembered by the chances and history it did create. The team gave itself a shot at the state title, and in doing so was part of a year in which the Westside football, boys basketball and boys soccer teams all made it to the state championship game during the same school year for the first time in Westside history.

The team got to the tournament by winning its district championship, and then beat Grand Island 2-1 and Creighton Prep 2-0 to reach the Class A State Championship Game against Lincoln Southwest.

In the game, Lincoln Southwest, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, and Westside, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, shared possession evenly for the first 15 minutes of the game. But with 23 minutes left in the first half, Southwest was able to find a seam in the Westside defense. A pass into the goal box from the right side gave Southwest’s Justin Wiley the ball ten yards away from the goal. Wiley dribbled to his left before firing a left-footed shot past Westside goalkeeper senior Quinn Nelson and the rest of the Westside defense.

For the rest of the first half, both teams found chances at goal, but nothing materialized for either team. Westside headed into the second half down 1-0.

In the second half, Westside started slowly, allowing a few opportunities for Lincoln Southwest, before finding a rhythm.

For the final 30 minutes of the game, Westside dominated possession, finding shots from every angle and location, while allowing very few Lincoln Southwest counter-attacks, which led to stops by Nelson. But Westside shots continued to slide left, right and high of the goal.

“I think that, as the game progressed, it was a fairly even match in the first half despite the goal,” Brian said. “In the second half, we started to mount the pressure. We just didn’t finish our chances.”

Meanwhile, with 12 minutes remaining in the game, Westside head coach John Brian was given a yellow card after junior Jacob Andrews fell to the ground after getting elbowed in the throat. Throughout the game, the Westside student section showed its displeasure with what appeared to be a number of missed calls, and Brian received a yellow card for voicing displeasure of his own.

“Once one of my players had been injured we entered the field,” Brian said. “While I was attending to the player the referee was standing there and I asked him, ‘Are you seeing all of this?’ at which time he yellow carded me for me asking him a simple question. And the way he went around the yellow card is he pulled it out but he didn’t show it to me, and I said, ‘Are you going to yellow card me?’ and he said, ‘Maybe,’ and I said, ‘Then either yellow card me right now or put it back in your pocket,’ at which time, when I returned to the bench, he walked up behind me and indicated with my back turned that I had been carded.”

Ultimately, the Warriors, cheered on by a filled student section dressed in a beach theme, could not find a way to score, finishing their last game in a 1-0 loss to Lincoln Southwest.

“I think that all the credit’s got to go to Lincoln Southwest,” said head coach John Brian. “We’d discussed beforehand how to beat them. We knew they were predictable. They lived up to their expectation of a very tough defense. I think if we had scored first you would have seen, we would have won the state championship.”

This is the second time in three years the team has been the state runner-up (the team was also the runner-up in 2012).

The team finishes the season with a 14-5 record, while claiming Westside’s fourth state runner-up trophy of the year (football, boys basketball and journalism were the first three)

Westside Wired would like to congratulate the boys soccer team for its exciting season. As a staff, we would like to thank the team, especially the seniors, for making this an exciting season to cover.