By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
It took just over 95 minutes to decide a winner between Centennial League soccer rivals Topeka High and Emporia on Friday night at Hummer Sports Park, with the Spartans getting the lone goal of the match to pick up the win, 1-0.
Emporia senior Aracely Aleman netted the goal for the Spartans deep in the right side of the box and buried it on the other side of the net to capture the victory.
That marked Emporia’s 10th shutout this season. In fact, all of their wins have come via the shutout.
Topeka High celebrated Senior Night for its four seniors and Trojan coach Derek Snook said Friday's loss hurt.
“We’ve just been hit by an injury bug,'' Snook said. "I thought we did well defensively in holding them out in a good attacking team like them. Attacking wise for us, there were some missteps so it’s a tough one to end on for sure.''
The Trojans had its chances over the 95 minutes played to get on the board but could not convert. Snook explained what went wrong.
“I thought there were opportunities for more shots, whether that be from 20-25 yards out or what but we just had some missed passes or some missed reads on what we need to do,'' Snook said. "I thought we could have got some more shots out for sure.
"They attacked us defensively. I mean every time we had the ball at our feet we had two defenders around us so we tried to do some things and just some bad passes got us.''
After playing two double overtimes on Monday that ended in a tie, Snook is happy to see his team still fighting.
“There is so much more to be had,'' he said. "This team has shown me so much grit over the last three weeks. We had a stretch where we had five games in eight days about two weeks ago.
"They showed me some toughness there. We’re beat up. I suited up 12 of my original 19 or 20 varsity players. The girls have come together and played well and hard as far as competing and that’s what you want. Can we compete?”
EMPORIA 1, TOPEKA HIGH 0
Emporia (10-6-0 3-3-0) 0 0 0 1 -- 1
Topeka High (6-10-1 2-4-0) 0 0 0 0 -- 0
Emporia -- Goal: Aleman.
