By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden's girls soccer team suffered through a long day Monday and had a short turnaround from that 7-0 loss to Spring Hill to get ready to face Class 6A foe Topeka High on Tuesday at Hummer Sports Park.
The Wildcats got the bounce-back Centennial League win they were looking for, however, dominating the second half to take a 3-1 victory over the Trojans.
"We did take a beating yesterday and I think we played better and I think (the girls) took it to heart,'' Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer said. "From a coaching standpoint it was good to see them doing things that we work on in practice.
"I think they had a lot more fun today and I think they're getting the idea.''
Hayden drew first blood on a first-half goal from sophomore Noelia Cruz, but Topeka High knotted the score 1-1 at the half on a penalty kick from freshman Avery Zimmerman.
The score stayed that way until Hayden sophomore Piper Wrench put the Wildcats ahead to stay with 19 minutes, 18 seconds remaining off an assist from junior Riley Schmidtlein.
The Wildcats then added an insurance goal from junior Kate Roeder off a pass from Schmidtlein with 7:57 remaining and kept the Trojans off the board the rest of the way to improve to 7-4 on the season.
Kreutzer said that the fact that the Wildcats had no time to dwell on Monday's loss was probably beneficial for his team.
"It was good,'' Kreutzer said. "I was pretty calm and I just said, "Let's do what we know how to do and just get it done.' I made a few changes position-wise and it seemed to work out okay.''
Topeka High coach Derek Snook was pleased for the most part with his team's play in the first half, but the Trojans let some scoring chances get away and couldn't get much going after halftime, dropping to 5-6 with their fourth loss in a row.
"We were looking pretty good at times tonight, but we're just disconnected,'' Snook said. "The defense isn't pushing up the way they should when we attack and we've been letting the floodgates open right in the middle of the field. We've got to get tougher.''
HAYDEN 3, TOPEKA HIGH 1
Hayden (7-4) 1 2 -- 3
Topeka High (5-6) 1 0 -- 1
Hayden -- Goals: Noelia Cruz, Piper Wrench, Kate Roeder. Assists: Riley Schmidtlein 2.
Topeka High -- Goal: Avery Zimmerman (penalty kick).