Lack of effective defense gets Spartans down on the soccer field.
by Keenan Moore
photo by Kevin Fleming
The Cardinals were 1-11 last year and the Spartans were ready to regain some positive momentum that they had lost in the Highlands Ranch tournament.
Things did not look good for the boys as the Cardinals put an early goal in the net. Starting goal keeper Keith Warren was injured and was forced to leave the game. Midfielder Tommy Moehlman stepped up to the plate and held the Cardinals for the rest of the first half, and it looked the Spartans would have a chance as they held on to their 1-0 deficit.
The second half started as a stalemate, as neither team could really get much done on the offensive side of the ball. However, almost fifteen minutes into the game, midfielder Corey Rowe managed to get a shot past the Cardinal keeper and scored the first non free kick goal for the Spartans in the 2008 season. No less than ten minutes later, senior Keenan Moore got a header past the Cardinal keeper, giving the Spartans the 2-1 advantage. The defense held the Cardinals for the rest of the game and the Spartans captured their first win of the season.
The Spartans next game is against the Eaglecrest Eagles, who have started the season with a perfect 4-0 record. This is a major improvement from their past couple of seasons. The Spartan defense will have to stay strong and the offense will need to put a lot of shots on goal if they wish to win this game. The Spartans head to Eaglecrest this Today at 5:30.
The boys’ soccer team kicked off the season by playing in the first ever Highlands Ranch tournament, but the competition proved to be tough as the boys lost all four games.
With expectations running high for the Spartans this year, the Highlands Ranch tournament was a perfect time to show if the new squad would be able to set the bar. Their first game of the tournament was against 5A Gateway. The Spartans pulled off the upset last year and defeated the 5A powerhouse, but this year would yield a different result. The Olympians got one goal past the Spartans early in the game. They would add one more mark to the board before the Spartans would get one goal for themselves off a free kick by Jorge Jacal. However, the one point margin would be as close as they would get, as the Olympians would tack on two more goals, giving the game a final score of 4-1.
The next game for the Spartans was against Castle View, a school that is just two years old. The Spartans looked to take advantage of the inexperience of the young team, but the Sabercats showed that they had skill that was ahead of their school’s inexperience. This game seemed eerily similar to the game that Spartans played against Gateway. The Sabercats got two quick goals on the Spartans and TJ would never be able to recover. Yet again, the only goal came off of a free kick from Jorge Jacal. The score was 5-1 as the Spartans dropped their second consecutive game in the tournament.
The Spartans’ third match-up would be against a powerful team from Highlands Ranch. While the game might have had a similar feeling to the other games, the Spartans actually did much better than in their past two games. Their defense raised the level of play and they actually held the Falcons to just one goal in the first half. It seemed like the Spartans had finally made the adjustments that were necessary to keep up with some of the tougher teams that they would face. However, TJ could not manage to get a goal past the Falcon keeper. The Spartans lost their third game in a row, 3-0.
The last game for the Spartans in this tournament would be against Longmont. They had been a powerful team for the past couple of years and the Spartans never found a way to beat them. This year would be no different, as Longmont scored two quick goals and the boys would never be able to recover. Longmont would keep adding more and more goals to their tally, winning 9-0. The defense was going to have step up its game and the offense would need to get more shots on goal if the Spartans want to win more games.
