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Cair Paravel soccer makes history with Class 4A-1A regional title
By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
The Cair Paravel Latin boys soccer team recorded a first in school history Thursday night, winning a Class 4-1A regional championship.
Cair Paravel celebrates its first-ever boys regional soccer title Thursday at Berean Academy. [Photo by Jan Pabitzky/Special to TSN]
Having won a playoff game on Tuesday for only the second time in school history, the Lions traveled to face Berean Academy of Elbing Thursday. They took along a big group of fans who watched the team win 3-0, claiming the regional title and qualifying for the quarterfinal round next week.
Cair Paravel, one of just eight schools classified as 2A or 1A to field boys soccer teams, released its classes early Thursday, allowing a large portion of the student body to make the trip to Elbing, a small town near Newton, to attend the game.
“We had the stands packed full of friendly faces, which was great,” said Cair Paravel coach Mark Congdon. “It was a great win. A really exciting game.”
The Lions beat Circle High School 6-2 on Tuesday to advance to the regional final. They drew another 2A opponent, one with an advantage over Cair Paravel, which also fields a football team in addition to soccer.
“Berean Academy doesn’t have a football program, so they have got a lot of athletes,” Congdon said. “They started only juniors and seniors, whereas we start several underclassmen. They are a big, tall, physical team and it was a hard-fought battle. I think we just had the better finishers up top, which is what made the difference.”
Cair Paravel's Nathan Keys (right) celebrates his goal in Thursday's 3-0 regional game at Berean Academy with teammate Henry Sterling, who also had a goal in the win. [Photo by Jan Pabitzky/Special to TSN]
Judah Congdon scored a goal in Cair Paravel's 3-0 regional win at Berean Academy. [Photo by Jan Pabitzky/Special to TSN]
Nathan Keys’ bicycle kick put the Lions on top early. Henry Sterling notched the Lions’ second goal on a pass from Judah Congdon. Leading 2-0 for much of the contest, the Lions received an insurance goal from Judah Congdon with about 10 minutes remaining.
Coach Congdon praised junior Ben Bolze, the Lions’ goalkeeper, for keeping the Warriors off the board.
“Ben notched six saves and pitched a shutout,” Congdon said. “He was fantastic. He was probably our MVP of the game.”
Cair Paravel will face another 2A school – Classical School of Wichita – next Monday at SCHEELS Stryker Complex in Wichita.
“The little schools ride these waves of athletes and participation,” Congdon said. “I was looking forward to this season starting about four years ago. I could foresee that certain stars were going to align, and we were going to be peaking this year.
“It’s been an investment over the last couple of years. The seniors on this team, in their freshman year, got one win. They were 1-14 that year. So, to watch this senior class grow from that 1-14 freshman season to this is storybook. They are on cloud nine. They are bonding really well. I think we’re playing our best soccer of the season. We’re peaking at the right time.”
No. 2-ranked Washburn volleyball on road to face No. 23 Griffons, Bearcats
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 2-ranked Washburn volleyball hits the road this weekend for a 6 p.m. Friday MIAA match at No. 23-ranked Missouri Western and a 3 p.m. Saturday match at Northwest Missouri.
No. 2-ranked Washburn volleyball will go on the road this weekend to face No. 23 Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri. [File photo/TSN]
Missouri Western is the only team that has beaten Washburn in the Ichabods' 21 matches on the season, but WU coach Chris Herron said his team's full focus is on continuing to play well and not even talking about trying to avenge the earlier 3-1 loss to the Griffons in Whiting Fieldhouse.
"We don't look at that in any way, shape or form,'' Herron said. "I don't talk about it like that and we don't address it like that. We just address it as this is how we're going at this game, this is what we've got to do against this person and so on and so forth. There's none of that (revenge factor) for us because here's the deal. If you're looking at it like that with them you forget you play the next day, too, so then you use all your energy on that one and not save some for the next one.
"Here's what we know. Every team that we play from now on is good, so we're going to have to play well and if we don't play well we're going to get beat. I just think that you have to take that approach.''
The Ichabods enter the week with a 20-1 record overall and a 9-1 mark inside the MIAA while riding an eight-match and 24-set winning streak after sweeping No. 25 Emporia State last Friday.
But Herron said the streaks are another non-topic for the Ichabods.
"I haven't mentioned it once,'' he said. "I don't talk about a winning streak, I don't talk about sweeps. That's never a conversation that we have in our gym because then that becomes the focus instead of getting better.
"I think individually every kid can get better and if you get better as an individual our team gets better.''
Missouri Western enters Friday's match with a seven-match winning streak and a 16-5 record overall while Northwest Missouri is 8-11 after losing last time out.
Washburn remains ranked No. 2 in the AVCA poll, the highest ranking for the program since Sept. 18, 2022 when the Ichabods were also ranked No. 2.
Austin Broadie leads the Washburn offense with 231 kills (3.40 per set) while hitting .361, third best on the team. She has started all 21 matches and also has logged 45 blocks with 47 digs. The senior has 11 double-digit kill matches.
Bella Limback is slashing a team-high .521 with 135 kills (2.05 per set) while playing and starting in all 21 matches. She has also added 73 blocks (1.11 per set), also team high, and served 10 aces. She has hit over .400 in all but four matches this season with three double-digit kill efforts. She leads the nation in hitting percentage.
Alex Dvorak is second on the team with 72 blocks (1.09 per set) on the season while starting all 21 matches. Offensively she has made 136 kills (2.06 per set) along with hitting .467, second best on the team. The senior ranks third in the nation and second in the MIAA in hitting percentage.
Corinna McMullen has started all 21 matches this season and leads Washburn with 442 assists (6.60 per set). She has also chipped in a team-high 27 service aces while ranking second on the team with 176 digs (2.63 per set). The senior has delivered 12 matches of 20-plus assists and seven double-doubles.
Libero Taylor Rottinghaus leads the team with 277 digs (4.07 per set). She has chipped in 85 assists while serving 24 aces, second most on the team. The junior has two matches making at least 20 digs. double-figure dig matches.
Washburn leads the nation with a .307 team hitting percentage, the only team in the nation hitting over .300.
The Ichabods are 11th nationally and second among MIAA teams with 2.52 blocks per set.
On the defensive side Washburn is limiting opponents to a .126 hitting percentage, good for 11th nationally and first in the MIAA.
Rural soccer rallies from early deficit, claims 6A regional title with 3-1 win over Wichita East
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It's been a rare occasion that Washburn Rural soccer has had to come from behind this fall.
Washburn Rural soccer poses for a team picture after winning a Class 6A regional title Thursday at McElroy Field. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Thursday was one of those occasions, with Wichita East drawing first blood eight minutes into the Class 6A regional final.
But the Junior Blues responded just like Rural coach Brian Hensyel hoped they would, scoring three unanswered goals to advance to next Monday's 6A state quarterfinal with a 3-1 win over the Blue Aces at McElroy Field.
"We haven't been behind much all year,'' Hensyel said. "In fact, until last Thursday at Blue Valley North when we went down 1-0, we'd probably been behind less than 20 minutes all year, so maybe that was a good experience for us, falling behind and having to come back and play a really good game to win that one.
"Wichita East is a good team, we knew that. They'd been on a run and most of their losses were early, so they were hot and we knew it was going to be a tough game.''
No. 7 West seed Wichita East, which finished its season 12-6-0, jumped on top 1-0 at the 32:01 mark of the opening half on a goal from senior David Rodriguez, but Washburn Rural (16-1-1) pulled even less than three minutes later when senior Dylan Willingham found the back of the net off an assist from senior Drew Moore.
Washburn Rural junior Brodye Kocher-Munoz (9) celebrates his go-ahead goal with teammate Drew Moore in Thursday's 3-1 Class 6A regional win over Wichita East. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Dylan Willingham (19) scored a pair of goals in Thursday's 3-1 Class 6A regional win over Wichita East. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
The game was still knotted 1-1 at the half, but junior Brodye Kocher-Munoz put Washburn Rural ahead to stay just 5:01 into the second half and Willingham, Rural's single-season and career scoring leader, added his second goal with 6:15 remaining to account for the final margin.
"They got a nice early goal, I loved our quick response, and then at halftime we said we've just got to get back to the things we do well,'' Hensyel said. "And then two of the guys that have been big for us all year obviously, Dylan and Brodye Kocher-Munoz, were both great with two goals.''
Kocher-Munoz also had an assist on the night as Washburn Rural extended its unbeaten streak to 15 games (14 wins, one tie) while snapping Wichita East's nine-game winning streak.
