By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Since suffering its lone loss of the 2024 season in its fourth game -- a 5-2 non-league defeat to Blue Valley West -- Washburn Rural's boys soccer team has bounced back exactly how Junior Blues coach Brian Hensyel hoped it would, with a string of wins.
The Junior Blues stretched their current win streak to three games Thursday at Hayden, with Rural rolling to a 7-0 Centennial League win over the Wildcats to improve to 6-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the league.
Washburn Rural junior Dylan Willingham (19) scored two goals and had two assists in Thursday's 7-0 Centennial League soccer victory over Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Pierce Cannon (left) had two goals and an assist in Thursday's 7-0 Centennial League soccer win over Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Since the loss to Blue Valley West, the Junior Blues have outscored their three opponents by a 20-1 margin.
"In the game we lost we saw some negative energy when we fell behind, and for the first time had any adversity, so we spent a lot of time talking about staying positive and not letting one mistake become five mistakes and they've done a good job since then,'' Hensyel said.
"Obviously, we've played pretty well and we've scored some goals and really, it's been a really, really good season. We had one bad half. We had kind of a bad start to our Blue Valley West game, went down 2-0, tied it up and then gave up three goals late. We've had about 20 bad minutes so far this season but we're going to find out next week. We go to Iowa next week and those teams are all great, so we better be ready.''
The Junior Blues scored the only goal they would need 5 minutes, 16 seconds into Thursday's match on a goal from senior Matthew Houser.
Rural made it 2-0 with 18:29 remaining in the opening half on a goal from junior Dylan Willingham and added goals from junior Brady Loeffler and senior Pierce Cannon to take a commanding 4-0 lead at the half.
Willingham and Cannon both added their second goals of the game in the second half while Rural also got a goal from senior Ryder Nikkel.
Willingham also contributed a pair of assists while Cannon and junior Liam Morrison were also credited with assists.
Juniors Miles Cook and Higgins Hawks combined for the shutout in goal for the Junior Blues.
WASHBURN RURAL 7, HAYDEN 0
Washburn Rural (6-1-0, 3-0-0) 4 3 -- 7
Hayden (1-5-1, 0-3-0) 0 0 -- 0
Washburn Rural -- Goals: Dylan Willingham 2, Pierce Cannon 2, Matthew Houser, Brady Loeffler, Ryder Nikkel. Assists: Dylan Willingham 2, Pierce Cannon, Liam Morrison. Shutout: Miles Cook, Higgins Hawks.
