A-J/Cobden soccer edged in regional championship

The Anna-Jonesboro/Cobden co-op Wildcats boys’ soccer team lost Friday night in the IHSA playoffs to Waterloo Gibault 3-2.  

The teams met at Columbia for the regional championship.  

The loss was only the second of the season for the ‘Cats. The defeat ended the ‘Cats hope of a run to the state finals.

“It was a heartbreaking loss for us,” coach Mark Boomer said. The ‘Cats had a 2-1 lead with 10 minutes to go before a couple of late shots gave the Hawks the win.

The Gibault Hawks started eight seniors and three juniors. The Wildcats started three seniors, five juniors and three sophomores. The Hawks also put a team on the field with much more size than the ‘Cats.  

The game opened with Gibault controlling the first five minutes, which resulted in a quick goal for the Hawks and a 1-0 lead.  

“They are the biggest, fastest and most physical team we have played all year. Naturally we had an adjustment period from what we were used too and that first five minutes was that period of adjustment,” Boomer said.

The time for adjustment ended after the ‘Cats allowed that first goal.  

“We immediately responded, stepped up our game and became much more aggressive attacking them,” Boomer said.  

At the 11 minute mark of the first half ‘Cats midfielder Garrett Nadeau made a pass through the defense to Noah Fuller, who beat the goalie for the tying score.  

The remaining 30 minutes of the first half featured a game of physical play and defense.  

Neither team was able to put any real challenge on the other until the final seconds when Fuller again found himself one-on-one with the goalie.  

The Hawks goalkeeper came out to block Fuller and the two collided hard in the box. Despite the collision, Fuller managed to get enough on the ball to send in rolling to the goal but the ball went just inches outside the right post.  

With that the horn sounded and the teams went to half time tied 1-1.

The ‘Cats opened the second half as strong as they finished the first.  

At the 6 minute mark of the second half A-J midfielder Ryan Stark won possession of the ball and found Fuller again in a spot to receive the ball behind the defense.  

“Ryan made a through pass between the defenders and Fuller caught the ball on the run with the Hawks’ goalie again coming out to defend. Noah simply made a soft touch on the ball and put it in the back of the net,” Boomer said. A-J scored and took a 2-1 lead.

For the next 25 the ‘Cats made several challenges on the Hawks’ keeper.  Forward Zac Parr had the ball behind the defenders and one-on-one with the goalie but the keeper made an aggressive attack and closed the angle so that when Parr took the shot the keeper was able to cover it up.  

It was a frustrating night for Parr. “He has played so many games in the Saint Louis/Metro East area.  Those kids from that area know him and they know they have to guard him hard to stop him from scoring.  When he got the ball he drew two to three defenders every time.  And they were very physical with him and got away using their hands a lot to hold him. Unfortunately we never were able to adjust for that to get him the ball in space,” Boomer said.

The ‘Cats missed a couple of other opportunities to put the game away when the Hawks’ keeper made a one-hand diving stop on a hard shot to the left of the goal and caught another hard but direct shot in his stomach.  

“Their goalie’s efforts left our defense under tremendous pressure to not bend,” Boomer said.

For the attacks that got through, Wells said that ‘Cats goalkeeper “Steven Wells was our answer.  He made a couple of stellar saves. Our defensive effort was incredible.”

But with 10 minutes to go the Hawks were awarded three consecutive corner kicks.

“A corner kick is a set play that allows the attacking team to organize something right in front of the box and receive an uncontested pass from the corner.  Gibault was very good with their kicks and the height advantage they had over us made it particular difficult to defend,” Boomer said.  

A corner kick is awarded when the ball goes out of the end bounds line off of the defending team.  

After the Hawks were awarded a third corner kick, they made the most of it to score a game-tying goal with 10 minutes remaining in regulation time.

Each team attacked with open field and dumped passes behind the other’s defense. For the second time, Gibault found a bit of luck and scored what proved to be the winning goal.

“They chased one of their wide passes down and looked like they may have a one-on-one with Wells but our defenders recovered quickly and forced an awkward shot.  The ball was rolling from right to left and appeared headed on a line outside the left post.  But it curved in just enough to strike the left post and then bounced into the net for the go ahead goal,” Boomer said.

With the loss AJ ended the season with a 17-2 record.  

“That is the best season we have ever had.  This has been the best team I have ever coached.  I am so proud of how we played in this game and how we played all year,” Boomer said.

“This loss is disappointing because we felt before and I still feel now that we are one of the top teams in Class 1A. Unfortunately, Gibault is one of the top programs in 1A as well and we have to beat them to get out of our regional.”

“This year we competed against one of the best teams in the state like we have never in the past.

“Our kids deserve credit too and we know we just fell a bit short. If all goes as planned we will see them again next year with a team that will have a legitimate chance of advancing to the finals.”