By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Having beat Topeka High 13 days earlier, Topeka West's soccer team knew the Trojans would be fired up for Wednesday's rematch at Hummer Sports Park, which was also High's Senior night.
But it took the Chargers just 36 seconds to take the wind out of the Trojans' sails, with sophomore Diego Gonzalez-Talavera gathering in a long pass from senior Jafet Rodriguez and putting the ball in the net to give West a lead it wouldn't relinquish in a 2-0 victory.
Sophomore Diego Gonzalez-Talavera scored the game-winning goal in Wednesday's 2-0 Topeka West win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It felt good and obviously it boosted our morale for the rest of the game to keep on pushing because we know they're a tough team,'' Gonzalez-Talavera said of his early goal. "Jafet has got a good leg on him so obviously when he has it back there I try to make a run and see if he can find me and it worked and we scored off of it.''
Topeka West added its second goal just over four minutes later on a shot from sophomore D'Ante Smith Dilone' off an assist from freshman Valentin Del Real and the Chargers and junior goalkeeper Gage Kindred-Noragon made the two early scores stand up the rest of the way as West improved to 11-2-0 with its eighth straight victory.
"Momentum can do some amazing things and the guys can play,'' Topeka West coach Josh Kutter said. "They went after it, they were excited to start the game and they did exactly what they had to do.''
Wednesday's win also gave Topeka West a season sweep and its fourth straight win over its USD 501 rival.
Now the Chargers want to continue building momentum over the final week of the regular season next week.
Topeka High sophomore Santi Ovalle (left) battles Topeka West sophomore Diego Gonzalez-Talavera for a loose ball in Wednesday's 2-0 Charger win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We don't have the best games sometimes but we're still finding ways to win these games and I think it's just part of the growing process,'' Gonzalez-Talavera said. "So we're still growing as a team going into regionals.''
Kutter agreed.
"We had some early losses that we learned from and we constantly feel like we can improve and we can do better,'' Kutter said. "We're still on an uphill climb and we're still going to keep working to tweak things.''
In addition to falling behind in the early going Topeka High (11-4-0) also had to deal with numerous injuries, including an early hamstring injury to senior leader Jaime Alvarado that kept him out of the remainder of the game.
Topeka High will close out its regular season next Tuesday at Washburn Rural in a game that will decide the Centennial League championship while Topeka West will be at home next Monday against Lansing before traveling to De Soto next Tuesday and closing out the regular season next Friday against Shawnee Heights at the Bettis Family Sports Complex.
TOPEKA WEST 2, TOPEKA HIGH 0
Topeka West (11-2-0) 2 0 -- 2
Topeka High (11-4-0) 0 0 -- 0
Topeka West -- Goals: Diego Gonzalez-Talavera, D'Ante Smith Dilone'. Assists: Jafet Rodriguez, Valentin Del Real. Shutout: Gage Kindred-Noragon.
