By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Topeka West boys soccer team continues to stack wins, going on the road to Seaman Thursday night to get its fourth win of the season, 2-1 over the Vikings.
The battle of 3-1 teams in the Class 5A class didn’t disappoint.
Topeka West junior Giancarlo Valenzuela (10) scored the game's first goal in Thursday's 2-1 Charger win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West celebrates a goal in Thursday's 2-1 UKC soccer win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Chargers withstood several near-misses by the Vikings early, then scored the first goal with 7:14 remaining before halftime when Giancarlo Valenzuela launched a long bomb from well outside the penalty box that eluded the Vikings’ leaping goalkeeper.
Seaman senior Lucas Cross (19) is congratulated after scoring the Vikings' lone goal in Thursday's 2-1 loss to Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman tried to grab the momentum from the visitors just two minutes into the second half. The Vikings’ Lucas Cross took a pass in the heart of the Charger defense and punched home a shot to tie the score at 1-1.
Topeka West didn’t let the home team enjoy the moment for long. Just six minutes later, the Chargers’ Diego Gonzalez-Talavera guided a pass through the Seaman defense to teammate Cain Cianciarulo, who headed the ball in for what turned out to be the winning score.
“Since we started seeing these guys come together, we could tell that we have guys with a lot of talent,” said Charger coach Josh Kutter. “We’ve been talking about putting together a full 80 minutes as a team and working on that mental toughness to stay focused for a whole game. I think tonight they showed that.”
The Chargers showed the mental toughness Kutter is looking for when Seaman tied the score.
“There was a moment there where everybody put their heads down, but I was like ‘Everybody keep calm. We know what we’re capable of,’ ” said senior defender Jafet Rodriguez. “Even with the goal we gave up, we knew we could hold it down.”
“It was really important (to respond to the Viking goal) and not let small things take you out of the game,” Kutter said. “We have so much ability, we need to just have the confidence that we can come back and attack again. We’re perfectly capable of that.”
Rodriguez complimented goalkeeper Eric Conejo, who filled in for the Chargers’ primary keeper due to injury and anchored the Topeka West defense.
“He believed in himself tonight and we believed in him, too,” Rodriguez said. “He played some last year when our keeper was out, and he knows how to step up in the big games for us.”
Rodriguez is enjoying the turnaround of the Chargers in his senior season.
“We definitely are picking it up from last year after we had a 7-9 record,” Rodriguez said. “We lost a lot of seniors, but we knew we were getting some incoming freshmen that were good. We knew what we’re capable of.”
TOPEKA WEST 2, SEAMAN 1
Topeka West (4-1-0) 1 1 — 2
Seaman (3-2-0) 0 1 — 1
Topeka West — Goals: Valenzuela, Cianiarulo. Assists: Smith Dione’, Gonzalez-Talavera.
Seaman — Goal: Cross. Assist: Geiger.
