By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights came up one goal short against perennial soccer power St. Thomas Aquinas Thursday, bowing out of the Class 5A playoffs in a regional final.
Shawnee Heights senior Camden Granado battles for the ball in Thursday's 1-0 Class 5A regional loss to St. Thomas Aquinas. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The teams battled through a scoreless first half on a cold night at Bettis Family Sports Complex. Fifteen minutes into the second period, the Saints’ Brody Siebert charged into the T-Bird defense and was flipped over on a high-speed collision in the penalty area. The senior then punched a penalty kick past the Shawnee Heights’ goalkeeper for a 1-0 advantage that ended up being the game's only goal.
The Saints narrowly avoided permitting the T-Birds to tie it up, but Shawnee Heights came up empty on several attempts.
“(Our guys) executed what we wanted to execute. But we just couldn’t come up with finding the back of the net tonight,” said Shawnee Heights coach Nic Simons. “When you play a team like Aquinas who is battle tested, game in and game out, in the (Eastern Kansas League), you’ve got to make those plays.
“And the frustrating thing about soccer is you can dominate a game at times and get great chances and still not score. That’s kind of where we were at tonight. For the last 25 minutes, I thought we had the run of play, and we just couldn’t find the back of the net. We were, quite honestly, inches away from putting that ball in tonight. It was just a close, evenly matched game.”
Among the T-Birds who came up empty Thursday was senior Camden Granado, who on Tuesday became Shawnee Heights’ single-season record-holder for goals with 36. Granado notched a hat trick in a win against Basehor-Linwood to claim the record. Granado became the school’s career scoring leader earlier in the season.
“I’ll give Aquinas credit,” Simons said. “I think they frustrated us at our game. Free kicks, corners, set pieces in general. I thought they played very similar to us and defended it well. We had some great chances. There were a couple that we headed to the keeper or headed wide or just couldn’t get on the tail end of it that were there.”
One of the T-Birds’ best chances to score was snuffed out on a controversial stop with 10 minutes remaining. The home team argued the Saints’ goalkeeper merited a red card for “Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity.” But after a meeting among the officials, no penalty was assessed.
“Can’t get it back, but it was a textbook definition where I stand,” said Simons.
Shawnee Heights' Mason Haas battles a St. Thomas Aquinas player for the ball in Thursday's 1-0 T-Bird loss to the Saints. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights finished the season 15-3-0 and with plenty to be proud of.
“I told the guys, regardless of the outcome tonight, nothing could take away from the incredible things they did,” Simons said. “They went undefeated in the league for the first time in a while, back-to-back league champions. We have players that set records. We have a defense that set a record for fewest goals allowed in league play. The ball didn’t bounce our way tonight, quite literally, in certain situations.”
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 1, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 0
St. Thomas Aquinas (9-8-1) 0 1 — 1
Shawnee Heights (15-3-0) 0 0 — 0
St. Thomas Aquinas — Goal: Siebert. Shutout: Lehn.
