By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Both Washburn Rural soccer coach Brian Hensyel and Shawnee Heights coach Nic Simons got at least some if not all of what they wanted to accomplish inTuesday night's non-league city showdown at McElroy Field.
Hensyel's Junior Blues got the biggest prize, a 3-1 victory, but Simons' T-Birds got a stiff early-season test that he thinks will benefit his team over the rest of the 2023 campaign.
Benett Hallauer scored a pair of goals for Washburn Rural in Tuesday's 3-1 soccer win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural, which improved to 2-0, never trailed after a Benett Hallauer goal just 53 seconds into the game and went up 3-0 before Shawnee Heights got on the scoreboard in the final five minutes.
Hallauer's early goal held up for a 1-0 halftime advantage and Rural made it a 2-0 game on a penalty kick from sophomore Dylan Willingham with 22:48 remaining before Hallauer, a senior, recorded his second goal of the night off an assist from senior Devon Rutschmann to cap the Junior Blues' scoring.
Senior Brayden Lehnherr picked up the victory in goal for Washburn Rural's in Tuesday's 3-1 soccer win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Brayden Lehnherr, filling in for injured starter Ethan Uhlrig, picked up the victory in goal for the Junior Blues.
"We like playing games against teams like this because when you have somebody that's a city rival they obviously want to beat us,'' Hensyel said. "It's going to be a good intense game and that gets you prepared for the season.
"Even though they're not in our league anymore, it's a fun game for us to play.''
But while he was certainly happy to get the win, Hensyel said Tuesday's contest showed the Junior Blues what they need to work on moving forward.
"We kind of got a gift early in the game with a turnover in the back and a nice goal,'' Hensyel said. "We wanted a nice start and we got it and then we got outplayed in the first half just to be really honest with you. Our biggest problem is our energy. We've got good players, but we've got to play with some effort and some intensity. And I'd say for 80 minutes tonight, even though we ended up with more goals than them, they gave more effort and they played harder than we did and that was the difference in what kept the game close.
"The other thing is we've got a lot of guys who have played varsity but none of them have been the guys that have to carry a team. Every year new guys have to step into that role and we haven't quite got to that point yet. We're 2-0 and we're glad about that, we've scored some goals, but we've got to be a lot better because it's just been pretty average so far.''
Washburn Rural's Griffin Heinen (left) battles Shawnee Heights' Roscoe Poyner for the ball Tuesday night in the Junior Blues' 3-1 soccer win. [Photo by Doug Walker/TSN]
Senior Jack Martin scored Shawnee Heights lone goal with 4:22 left and Simons said his team, now 1-1, also has plenty of lessons it can learn from the loss.
"One of the reasons why I love playing Rural is they challenge everything and stretch us to ways that we may not see until postseason or later in the year when we play Blue Valley Southwest or St. Thomas (Aquinas),'' Simons said. "It's a good test for us and what I told the boys is what I really loved is we did not quit.
"We had a couple things go a direction we didn't want and you know what, we kept fighting. And it showed a lot of heart to finish a couple of opportunities there at the end -- one we didn't get, the other one we did -- and that's great. I couldn't ask for more.''
Washburn Rural will travel to Wichita Northwest on Thursday while Shawnee Heights will travel to Shawnee Mission North.
WASHBURN RURAL 3, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 1
Shawnee Heights (1-1) 0 1 -- 1
Washburn Rural (2-0) 1 2 -- 3
Shawnee Heights -- Goal: Martin.
Washburn Rural -- Goals: Hallauer 2, Willingham. Assist: Rutschmann.
