Huskies cap off regular season with first win

By TJ Rhodes
Posted 5/10/23

In this penultimate regular season matchup, the Highland Huskies hosted the Burlington Notre Dame Nikes on Tuesday, May 2. The Nikes took a 6-0 victory after Highland scored two goals in a span of …

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Huskies cap off regular season with first win

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In this penultimate regular season matchup, the Highland Huskies hosted the Burlington Notre Dame Nikes on Tuesday, May 2. The Nikes took a 6-0 victory after Highland scored two goals in a span of two games, competing with Mediapolis in a 2-1 loss. The Huskies sit 0-11 after this loss and have one more chance to enter the win column this regular season. The Nikes move to 6-4.

The game started fast. Highland played well in front of their own net, with two immediate blocked shots. The Nikes offense kept buzzing. This is when the great play of sophomore, Ayden Havel, began. He had two great saves to start the game. With 25:32 left in the first half, the Nikes struck their first goal, one that zipped past Havel during a breakaway.

Another Nike rush developed after the first goal. Havel made a good save to start the sequence, leaving a wide rebound for junior, Jack Peiffer, to collect, preventing a goal with Havel on the ground. Despite the good cleanup by Peiffer, this would become an issue for the Huskies later on.

Havel played an excellent game with eleven saves and is still growing as a goalie. Head coach, Dylan Stewart, has a lot of faith in Havel’s abilities as a winger and as a goalie. Now, Stewart is letting Havel develop at goalie after an injury left the net wide-open for competition.

“I couldn’t praise [Havel] enough. I don’t know what else that kid needs to do to help his team,” Stewart said. “We’re creating the opportunities I wanted to so it turned into a bit of an experiment, but I’ve always wanted him there and he’s been everything I could have expected.”

Sophomore, Angel Avendano, got a prime scoring opportunity with a penalty kick in the middle of the first half. He missed his chance, shooting above the net. At this point, the score was still 1-0.

The Nikes took advantage of Highland’s miscues and raced down the field, taking a hard shot on net just past the diving Havel to take a 2-0 lead. With three minutes left in the half, the Huskies surrendered another goal, trailing 3-0 during halftime.

Typically, the Huskies awaken at halftime and play their best soccer in the second half. This game seemed reversed from the typical status quo as they started with their best and progressively slipped backwards. If not for a myriad of great saves by Havel, the Nikes could have easily ran away with it. Ten minutes into the second and the Nikes made the score 4-0.

Sophomore, Logan McFarland, had two great chances to score in the second half. First, he broke away, easily outracing the Nikes. He took a shot that rocketed above the net, quelling his breakaway scoring chance. He then buried a shot into the goalie’s chest after a great pass from sophomore, Landon Bell, who also had some decent looks. Bell received a pass and used a header to get it in front of him to transition into offense, getting no help and being swarmed by the Nike defense.

The Nikes took over after McFarland and Bell’s chances. A Nike corner shot was translated into a shot in front of the net that fooled everyone, just missing the net and hitting the post. The Nikes then had a breakaway opportunity, one-on-one with Havel, kicking the ball over the net. Havel also needed to make some diving and leaping saves in the Nike onslaught.

Eventually, Highland got another penalty kick. Sophomore, Jared Diaz, hit the imposing wall, calmly collected the rebound and shot it once more. It missed the net and a Highland header shot took the ball out of play, giving the penalty kick zero shots on goal.

It seemed like Highland would stifle Burlington Notre Dame from scoring any more goals, keeping it a 4-0 affair but with 3:48 remaining, the Huskies collapsed, allowing a goal. Two and a half minutes passed, and the Nikes found the back of the net again. Two quick goals at the end of the game.

The last one was a team collapse for Highland. Again, Havel dives out for a save, leaving a rebound. No Highland defensemen collected the rebound, watching as the Nikes collected and scored with Havel on his stomach, giving the Nikes the 6-0 win.

 

GAME STATS

BURLINGTON NOTRE DAME SCORING: Seena Nowroozi 2, Alexander AbouAssaly 1, Logan Hamma 1, Hunter Lillie 1, Wyatt Pearson 1.

BURLINGTON NOTRE DAME ASSISTS: Lillie 2, Caeden Ott 2, Hamma 1, Nowroozi 1, Connor Bush 1.

BURLINGTON NOTRE DAME SAVES: Matthew Booten SV 3.

HIGHLAND SAVES: Ayden Havel SV 11, GA 6.

 

Highland 4, Wapello 2 (5/5)

It has been done.

The Huskies finally broke free in the win column, notching their first dub in the final regular season match to finish 1-11. The Huskies won 4-2, doubling their goal total on the year in one outing.

Scoring for the Huskies was sophomore, Logan McFarland, with two and sophomore, Jared Diaz, also with two. McFarland finishes the year with three goals, a team high. Diaz’s two goals puts him at second highest scorer for the team. Sophomore, Angel Avendano, who scored the first goal of the year, finished with one and is third in scoring.

Returning to the lineup for the first time all season was the team’s only senior, Carlos Valenzuela, who notched an assist. McFarland also earned an assist, garnering a team-high three points on the night.

This game was formatted in typical Highland fashion, a slow start followed by a better executed second half. Only this time, their increased efforts finally netted results. Going into halftime, the score was 1-0 in favor of the Indians.

The Huskies took the upper hand in the second half, finishing the game with 22 shots, 15 more than their season-high of seven against the Columbus Wildcats.

Their offense exploded in the second half, scoring four, allowing another goal but taking command of the game and holding on for the win. The Indians only had nine shots, showing that play was dictated by the Huskies.

One of the goals that trickled into the net past Ayden Havel was a penalty kick by Wapello freshman, Jack Boysen.

Wapello drops to 0-11 with one more chance to enter the win column themselves.

It might have been a tough year for the Highland Huskies as they scored just six goals and only gained one win, but there was vast improvement throughout the season. They only allowed ten goals on one occasion, their opening night. Last season, they allowed the ten-goal mark six times. The last time these two teams clashed, Highland lost 10-1 (Apr. 8, 2022). They played a much tighter defensive game this year and just didn’t have the same help offensively.

“One thing I wanted to work on with our young, inexperienced team is just understanding how to move the ball and where we should be at times. We’re getting there,” Stewart said. “The last couple of games, we’ve really moved the ball well, we’ve created opportunities, [that] means we’re getting the ball up. We’re trying to build from that and understand our soccer IQ.”

The Huskies will get to play a tough opponent in the first round of the playoffs. They are yet to know who this might be. They are looking for the upset. Either way, when the Huskies return to play next spring, they will have another year of experience under their belt to better weather the storm.   

WAPELLO SCORING: Jack Boysen 1, Adin Muff 1.

WAPELLO ASSISTS: Logan Meeker 1.

WAPELLO SAVES: Kainoa Seumanutafa SV 22, GA 4.

HIGHLAND SCORING: Jared Diaz 2, Logan McFarland 2.

HIGHLAND ASSISTS: Carlos Valenzuela 1, McFarland 1.

HIGHLAND SAVES: Ayden Havel SV 9, GA 2.