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.
Washburn Rural will be at home Monday to host a 6A quarterfinal, with the pairings to be released after all the regional finals are completed.
"There's a lot of parity in high school soccer in Kansas,'' Hensyel said. "Especially I think once you get past the first round all the teams that are in the second round are teams that are used to winning games. We expected a very tough game, we're glad to survive, and we know whoever comes here on Monday will be another tough game.''
WASHBURN RURAL 3, WICHITA EAST 1
Wichita East (12-6-0) 1 0 -- 1
Washburn Rural (16-1-1) 1 2 -- 3
Wichita East -- Goal: David Rodriguez.
Washburn Rural -- Goals: Dylan Willingham 2, Brodye Kocher-Munoz. Assists: Drew Moore, Brodye Kocher-Munoz.
