By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Two veteran coaches struggled to find superlatives sufficient to describe the 0-0 double-overtime tie between Washburn Rural and Seaman Thursday night at McElroy Field.
The teams met at Washburn Rural with seedings on the line as two of the top programs in their respective classes.
Seaman's soccer team huddles up after Thursday's 0-0 double-overtime tie with Washburn Rural. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Washburn Rural soccer coach Brian Hensyel talks to his Junior Blues, who battled Seaman to an 0-0 deadlock Thursday night. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Seaman goalkeeper Maegan Mills kept Washburn Rural out of the goal in Thursday's 0-0 double-overtime tie. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Senior Mackinly Rohn and Washburn Rural battled to an 0-0 tie with Seaman Thursday night at McElroy Field. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Seaman entered the contest atop the standings in Class 5A East with a 13-1-1 record. The Junior Blues, meanwhile, carried an 11-4-0 mark and were second in the 6A West Regional.
A win would have meant a lot to either team. But the 0-0 tie had longtime coaches Brian Hensyel of Washburn Rural and Tim Nussbaum of Seaman grasping for adjectives.
“That was the highest level of high school soccer game I’ve ever seen,” Nussbaum said. “Everybody left everything on the field. That’s passion. That’s love. I won’t be able to talk tomorrow, but I don’t care.”
“That’s a fun way to end the regular season,” Hensyel said. “Two city rivals. That was probably the most exciting tie that I’ve ever been a part of.”
After an intense 80 minutes of regulation, the teams battled through two scoreless 10-minute overtime periods ending in a draw.
Both teams watched numerous chances sail just wide or just high of the net, a few ricocheting off the crossbar.
The opposing goalkeepers – Hailey Beck for Washburn Rural and Maegan Mills for Seaman – ensured the 0-0 score with crucial stops.
“It felt like either team could have had five (goals), and we ended up with none,” Hensyel said.
“I thought one of those chances was going to go in for them. I thought four or five of those chances would go in for us,” Nussbaum said. “Both teams’ defenses were super solid.”
Neither coach was especially disappointed with the outcome. Instead, they raved about the effort of both teams, and what that might mean come playoff time.
“As a coach you always want more,” Nussbaum said. “You’d want to leave here (winning) 1-0. But 0-0 was brilliant. I don’t think we’ve ever competed like that versus Washburn Rural. If we play like we did tonight, we can compete with anybody.”
Both teams expect to host games next week based on their position in the standings. The regular-season finale was good preparation the postseason, both coaches agreed.
"That’s a really good Seaman team, probably as good as I’ve seen them have in a long time,” Hensyel said. “I think that really helps us prepare for the playoffs because that was playoff intensity without all the repercussions.
“I know if we give that kind of energy like we did tonight…we had to dodge some bullets tonight, but I’m pretty excited about the next couple of weeks based on what I saw tonight.”
WASHBURN RURAL 0, SEAMAN 0
Seaman (13-1-2) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Washburn Rural (11-4-1) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Seaman — Goals: none. Assists: none. Shutout: Mills.
Washburn Rural — Goals: none. Assists: none. Shutout: Beck.
