The Washburn Ichabod soccer team returns home this weekend for a pair of MIAA contests, hosting Northeastern State at 6 p.m. on Friday and Rogers State at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Leah Henke
Sam Searcey
The Ichabods, 7-2-2 overall, 4-0-1 in the MIAA, are riding a seven-game unbeaten streak into Friday's match that includes six wins and one tie and Washburn coach Davy Philips said it's important to continue building.
"Northeastern's really good,'' Phillips said. "They drew (Central Missouri) earlier in the year and they've been in the region top 10 most of it so they're going to be a really good challenge for us and then every game from here on out is really important to maximize our performance index points and RPI, so whether its Rogers on Sunday or Northeastern on Friday, both of those are equally important because it's important we max out all the points we can through every game now.
"It's a tough slate of games coming up no doubt, but one of the best things about it is I feel like we're growing every week. It feels good to see growth, but it's also important to acknowledge that we have a lot of growth still to accomplish.''
Last Friday night, freshman Leah Henke scored a four-minute hat trick -- the sixth in program history and the first since 2022 -- in a 5-1 win road win over Missouri Southern. Henke has eight goals this season, ranking second in the MIAA and tied for 17th nationally.
On Sunday sophomore Sam Searcey scored both Ichabod goals in a 2-0 shutout at Pittsburg State.
Junior Emma Sweeney has been a star for the Seaman girls tennis team since she stepped on campus.
Seaman junior Emma Sweeney, the No. 2 seed, will be aiming for her third straight Class 5A singles medal in this weekend's state tournament at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Megan Sweeney roots on big sister Emma Sweeney during last Saturday's Class 5A regional tournament at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And after earning a Class 5A state medal with an 11th-place singles finish as a freshman and turning in a strong fourth-place showing as a sophomore, Sweeney feels like she's in position to take another big step in Friday and Saturday's state meet at Kossover Tennis Center.
Sweeney has put together a banner 27-1 campaign so far with a sweep of city, United Kansas Conference and 5A regional titles and earned the No. 2 seed for this weekend's state event.
"I'm excited,'' Sweeney said. "I'm nervous, but nerves are good. I've been hitting really good, really loose and just hitting good shots.
"And then from a mental standpoint, I think my head's pretty clear, too.''
Seaman is coming off a sweep of city, United Kansas Conference and regional team championships and will be aiming for a second straight 5A team trophy after finishing third a year ago.
"I think we're aiming for third or above,'' Sweeney said. "We got it last year so, I think that's what we're looking for this year, and we've all made it (to state), so if we are all able to make it to the second day and place I think we're putting ourself in a good position.''
Two-time regional champ Sweeney led the way last Saturday at Kossover as the Vikings edged St. James Academy for the regional crown.
Seaman senior Molly Gorman is a three-time Class 5A state medalist entering this weekend's state tournament at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Viking senior Molly Gorman finished second to Sweeney at regionals for the second straight season and will be shooting for her fourth straight state medal.
Gorman finished 10th in 5A singles last season after teaming with Katie Krumins to earn state medals in doubles as a freshman and sophomore.
Gorman is 24-6 on the season and has been installed as the eighth seed for state.
Seaman senior Peyton Henry and junior Camryn Lux finished third at regionals while Viking juniors Kaylyn Hiebsch and Cadence Speer finished fourth.
Henry and Lux are 25-5 on the season and the No. 6 seed for state while Hiebsch and Speer are 22-8 and seeded No. 13.
The 5A state tournament will start at 10:30 a.m. Friday and continue on Saturday with a 9 a.m. start.
Class 6A at Olathe College Boulevard Activity Center
Washburn Rural and Topeka High finished one-two in the Class 6A regional at Wichita while combining for eight state qualifiers for this weekend's state meet at the College Boulevard Activity Center in Olathe.
Topeka High senior Madeline Deters won a Class 6A regional title last Friday and will be aiming for her second straight state medal this weekend. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior Julia Katzer is headed to her second Class 6A state tournament this weekend after advancing in singles last season. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior Halle Owen (above) teamed with Julia Katzer to win a Class 6A regional doubles title last Friday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Trojans and Junior Blues swept the regional singles and doubles championships, with Topeka High senior Madeline Deters taking the singles crown and Washburn Rural juniors Julia Katzer and Halle Owen winning the doubles title.
Deters, a three-time state qualifier who placed eighth at state in 2024, is 29-4 this fall and has been installed as the No. 4 seed for state.
Katzer and Owen will take a 25-4 into the state meet and are seeded No. 9. Katzer will be making her second straight state appearance after qualifying in singles a year ago.
Rural also qualified freshman singles player Bridget Hoopes and the doubles team of senior Alizah Alvarez-Chedzoy and sophomore Annie Henderson for state while Topeka High qualified the doubles team of senior Ava Ritter and sophomore Hailey Caryl.
Hoopes (18-5) finished third at regionals and is seeded No. 14 for state while Alvarez-Chedzoy and Henderson (7-2) posted a fifth-place regional finish and are seeded 21st for state.
Caryl and Ritter (24-8) took third at regionals to earn their second straight state berth and are the No. 17 doubles seed.
The first round of state competition will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
Class 4A at Prairie Village Harmon Park Tennis Complex
Hayden will enter the Class 4A state tournament as the defending state champion and is coming off a regional team title Saturday at Marysville while qualifying its entire team for state at the Harmon Park Tennis Complex in Prairie Village.
Wildcat senior Avery O'Bray and sophomore Sophia Wichman won the regional doubles championship and will take an 11-5 record into the state meet as the ninth seed. Wichman teamed with then-senior Emily Sheetz to finish second in the 2024 state meet while O'Bray teamed with Izzy Glotzbach to earn an 11th-place medal.
Hayden freshman Lana Hull (20-8) and senior Grace Funk (5-5) posted third and fourth-place singles finishes at regionals and are seeded No. 11 and No. 12 for state.
Funk is a two-time state medalist, including a ninth-place finish in 2024.
Senior Kinsey Bullock and junior Kaelyn Gerdel (4-8) qualified for state with a fifth-place regional finish and are the 21st seed for this weekend's tournament.
The first round of state competition will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
When Topeka-area soccer teams meet on the pitch, they leave it all on the field. The intense battles leave players bruised and drenched in sweat. They jostle for position and jockey for balls, pushing the boundaries of legal physicality.
But when someone within that soccer community needed help recently, the team loyalties faded instantly.
Topeka High sophomore soccer player Carson Bradney (behind bench), who is battling bone cancer, was on hand to support his team during Wednesday's match against Topeka West. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Rivals from throughout the Capital City are rallying behind Topeka High sophomore Carson Bradney, who in August was diagnosed with bone cancer.
Bradney is described by Trojan coach Derek Snook as one of the fiercest competitors on the field. But his opponents, as well as his teammates, are going all out to encourage him in his fight against osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer that typically affects adolescents and young adults.
Topeka High's soccer team wears T-shirts to bring attention to teammate Carson Bradney's cancer fight during warmups Wednesday at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Fundraising tables were set up Wednesday at Hummer Sports Park to raise money to benefit Topeka High sophomore Carson Bradney and his family. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Recent games between Topeka High and Topeka West have turned into fundraisers for the Bradney family, with shirts worn by both teams to draw attention to the cause. Chili and baked items, wrist bands and other items have been sold or raffled to help the Bradneys financially.
Other schools in the community have also gotten into the act. Seaman, which devotes a game every year to benefit cancer victims, raised more than $1,000 for the Bradneys earlier this week.
“It’s been heartwarming and amazing,” said Nicole Lutz, mother of a Topeka High player, who has helped organize fundraising efforts. “These schools who are showing up to help this family are rivalries in some aspects. But the camaraderie and team effort for this cause is amazing and beautiful.”
“It’s a terrible thing that should never happen for someone his age. But our community here in Topeka, our soccer community is amazing,” said Topeka West coach Josh Kutter. “Everyone understands that there’s things more important than sports and that when there’s a student, an athlete, that needs something, everyone’s going to come together and provide that support.”
Topeka High sophomore soccer player Carson Bradney (left), who is battling bone cancer, roots on the Trojans during Wednesday's match against Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
A tall, athletic defender, Bradney started nearly every game as a freshman and earned Centennial League honorable mention. Snook had penciled Bradney into his lineup for this season, but a sore right knee prevented him from being a full participant in summer drills.
“I had a stress fracture in my knee, so I was out for pretty much the whole summer,” Bradney said. “I started to come back the first week of the season. It was rough. I played the first game. Then after that we went to the doctor. And that’s when they found all the tumor and cancer.”
Two Topeka soccer teams who are pouring it on down the stretch battled to a 1-1 tie Wednesday night at Hummer Sports Park.
Topeka High senior Bruno Nunez (10) celebrates his goal in Wednesday's 1-1 tie with USD 501 rival Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West junior Diego Gonzalez-Talavera (9) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring the Chargers' lone goal on a PK in a 1-1 tie with Topeka High Wednesday night at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West hosted Topeka High, hoping to avenge a thrilling 2-1 loss two weeks earlier. But both team’s goalkeepers turned away a barrage of shots to preserve the 1-1 tie through two overtime periods.
Twenty minutes into the first period, Topeka High got on the scoreboard first on a free kick blast by senior Bruno Nuñez.
However, the Trojans didn’t protect that lead for even one minute of game action. When Topeka High was called for a foul near their goal, the Chargers were rewarded with a penalty kick that junior Diego Gonzalez-Talavera hammered past Trojan keeper Billy Lutz.
Each team saw near misses swatted away or gobbled up by the goalkeepers the rest of the night.
“Every year, every game that we see (Topeka High), we know it’s going to be competitive, hard fought. And this game was nothing short,” said Topeka West coach Josh Kutter. “Both teams played all out. Both goalkeepers had to make their amazing saves. As stressful as it is, it’s fun to watch and I’m proud of both sides.”
The Chargers stand at 10-2-2 following the tie with Topeka High, who are now 7-4-2. Trojans coach Derek Snook said his hopes to repeat the 2-1 victory of two weeks ago came up just short.
Topeka High senior goalkeeper Billy Lutz makes a diving save in Wednesday's 1-1 tie with Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
“We had a couple (of shots) that we should have tucked away, no doubt. And maybe they did as well,” Snook said. “I don’t know that they had the essentially point-blank shots that we did. They were shooting from afar. The best game was being played 120 yards apart and both goalkeepers were just on top of it.”
Newly No. 2-ranked Washburn University volleyball will remain in Whiting Fieldhouse this week for a pair of MIAA matches, facing No. 24 Central Missouri on Thursday and Missouri Southern on Friday, with both matches starting at 6 p.m. No. 2 ranked Washburn volleyball will put its 15-set win streak on the line Thursday night against Central Missouri in Whiting Fieldhouse. [File photo/TSN]The Ichabods enter the week with a 17-1 record overall and a 6-1 mark inside the MIAA, riding a five-match and 15-set winning streak, including a 3-0 win over then-No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney last Saturday.Washburn has not dropped a set since suffering its lone defeat of the season on Sept. 27 against Missouri Western, a 3-1 loss that Washburn coach Chris Herron said might have lit a fire for the Ichabods."It seems like it has, because we've been playing really well,'' Herron said. "Most of the time coaches feel like the world is crumbling when you get a loss, but I came back and watched the film the next day and to be honest with you, we played not that bad. It's just (the Griffons) played great."I told the team the next day that coaches can either be an arsonist and burn it all down or they can be an architect and build it all up so I said, 'We're going to be an architect here and we're going to build from this, we're going to go from this,' and they seemed to take from that and have kind of run with it since then.''WU senior setter Sydney Conner agreed with her coach that the Ichabods used the loss as motivation."At the end of every match no matter how hard a team comes and plays against us, we just want to walk out of the gym feeling like we played our very best and we did everything we could to win the match,'' Conner said."And if that results in a loss then it results in a loss, but we just want to make sure that we feel good about our play.''"That night Missouri Western played really, really well. They were firing on all cylinders and there were a few places we could have done better, but we weren't necessarily upset with our performance because we were right there every set battling with them"Of course we were upset with the outcome, but we learned from it and I think we're better because of it.''Central Missouri enters Thursday's match with a 14-3 record overall and 6-1 mark in the MIAA while Missouri Southern begins the week 8-10 and 2-5 in conference play. Senior Austin Broadie leads the Washburn offense with 203 kills (3.44 per set) while hitting .367, third best on the team. She has started all 18 matches and has also logged 37 blocks with 40 digs. Broadie has 10 double-digit kill matches and ranks 25th nationally in hitting percentage and third in the MIAA. She is third among conference players in kills per set.Bella Limback is slashing a team-high .553 with 119 kills (2.09 per set) while playing and starting in all 18 matches. She has also added 67 blocks (1.18 per set), a team high and served seven aces. She has hit over .400 in all but two matches this season with three double-digit kill efforts. She leads the nation in hitting percentage and is third in the MIAA in blocks per set and 26th in the nation.Alex Dvorak is second on the team with 65 blocks (1.14 per set) on the season while starting all 18 matches. Offensively she has made 115 kills (2.02 per set) along with hitting .459, second best on the team. She has recorded five or more blocks in nine matches. The senior ranks third in the nation and second in the MIAA in hitting percentage. Dvorak is also fourth in the MIAA in blocks per set and 38th nationally. She was named the MIAA Offensive Player of the Week after last week's performance.
Leah Henke
Sam Searcey 
