Boys soccer falls to Creighton Prep in state finals

May 16, 2017

The Varsity Boys Soccer team’s NSAA State Tournament run ended Monday night in an extra time thriller. The boys began the tournament on Wednesday afternoon when they defeated Lincoln East with a score of 4-0. Two days later, the boys were back at Morrison Stadium to go head to head with Millard West. The game went into extra time, but Westside was able to pull it out due to three goals from senior Jack Finocchiaro. The win over the Wildcats put Westside into the state championship game on Monday night against long time rival Creighton Prep.

The first half was a battle to keep the ball out of the offensive third for the Warriors. The Jr. Jays had all the momentum for the majority of the first half. They got seven shots off and earned five corner kicks in the first 40 minutes. Although Westside goalkeeper Griffin Trude only had to save two of those shots, the Jr. Jays put on an immense amount of pressure in the 18 yard box in the first half.

The Warriors began to settle into the game more in the second half. They started to take a lot more touches, and, as a result, they gained more possession. Although Westside got just one shot off in the second half to the six that Creighton Prep got off, the pressure that mounted swung the momentum their way for a lot of the final 40 minutes. Although the Jr. Jays were able to get six shots off in the second half, Trude was there every time. The score was still deadlocked at 0-0 after 80 minutes, subjecting the rivals to an extra 20 minutes.

Early in the first period of extra time, Creighton Prep’s Tommy Braun won a scramble in the box when Trude was leaning the other way. The ball bounced to Braun, who had not scored a goal yet in the tournament, and he found the blue and white striped netting for the goal. After a game of trials and tribulations for the Westside defense and Griffin Trude, Creighton Prep had broken through and sucked the life out of the Westside students in attendance. The Warriors had a couple desperation chances late in the second period, but none were enough to break through for a goal. The Jr. Jays outlasted the Warriors in a match for the ages, 1-0.

Creighton Prep will lose 15 players to graduation, and Westside will lose seven seniors. The state final result put a bittersweet ending on a 17-3 season for the Warriors, and it was an ending to remember for the 18-3 Jr. Jays.