By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
The Hayden girls soccer team ended its 2023 regular season campaign with a dominant 10-0 romp past Tonganoxie while snapping its three-game winless streak at Hayden on Thursday evening.
After suffering a one-goal loss to Piper, an 0-0 draw with Manhattan and an 3-0 loss to Seaman, the Wildcats are back to winning.
Hayden's soccer team celebrates Thursday's 10-0 non-league win over Tongaoxie. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Hayden junior Lauren Sandstrom (12) scored a pair of goals in Thursday's 10-0 Wildcat win over Tonganoxie. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Hayden freshman Reese Huscher (15) had a pair of goals Thursday, helping the Wildcats end their regular season with a 10-0 win over Tonganoxie. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN] Group
The timing of the 10-0 non-league win couldn’t have come at a better time, with soccer regionals beginning next week.
Even though the win was satisfying for Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer, it bugs him knowing that they didn’t learn much about what they needed to fix or what worked best due to how one-sided their victory was against an unfamiliar opponent.
“It’s tough because you don’t learn anything from a 10-nothing game,” Kreutzer said. “The win is nice, but it’s tough. But having said that, everybody got to play on Senior Night. So getting everybody in to play is a good thing. The whole team has been working, so they all deserve something.”
Despite winning by 10 goals, it wasn’t a perfect night offensively for the Wildcats.
In the 80-minute match, Hayden (8-5-2) was in Tonganoxie territory for most of the game. It was rare to see Tonganoxie’s offense breakthrough on the run because Hayden’s defense was playing at a high level.
But the Wildcats were missing shots that were there for them for most of the first half. Of course, they didn’t need to be razor sharp, but that was the only complaint for the Wildcats on their last regular-season contest of the year.
“We created many opportunities with our passing in the first half, but we just couldn’t take advantage of it,” Kreutzer said. “I don’t know what to tell you about that. We just didn’t score the way we wanted to.”
But with that being said, Hayden was obviously the better team on Thursday.
Juniors Jill Lenherr and Lauren Sandstrom as well as freshman Reese Huscher ended the day with multi-goal games.
Lenherr and Huscher attacked the box effortlessly with their strikes. Although Sandstrom is a defender, the junior looked like a pure striker.
The trio combined for six out of the 10 goals, while Piper Wrench (PK), Carsyn Broxterman, Briahna Barnett and Jenessa Broxterman each had a goal in the victory.
Defensively, Tonganoxie (1-12-1) had few shots on goal or shots that were attempted. The Hayden defenders cleared the ball away fast and efficiently.
The freshmen goalkeeping duo of Kadence Watts and Lauren Borjon combined for the clean sheet against Tonganoxie, capitalizing on the backline’s efforts.
Hayden will wait and see who they will face in the first round of Class 4-1A regional play early next week.
“It’s all about our work ethic,” Kreutzer said. “We’ve pretty much worked on the same things all season and in practice. We just need to keep our work ethic and keep going. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
HAYDEN 10, TONGANOXIE 0
Tonganoxie (1-12-1) 0 0 – 0
Hayden (8-5-2) 3 7 – 10
Hayden -- Goals: Huscher 2, Lenherr 2, Sandstrom 2, J. Broxterman, C. Broxterman, Barnett, Wrench. Assists:Lenherr, Coyle, Barnett, Sims, Huscher. Shutout: Borjon, Watts.
