Wildcat soccer team closes regular season with two wins
<p class="p1">The Wildcat boys’ high school soccer team completed regular season play last week with two games. </p><p class="p1">On Tuesday, Oct. 6, the Cats hosted the Massac County Patriots and came away with a 3-2 victory. </p><p class="p1">Although the Wildcats controlled most of the game and opened with a 2-0 advantage and then again took a 3-1 lead, they were not able to separate from a pesky Patriot attack. </p><p class="p1">But in the end it was the goals from Zach Parr, Jaryt Tripp and John Russell that paced the Cats to victory on senior night and closed out their home schedule for the regular season.</p><p class="p1">On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the Wildcats traveled to Carbondale to take on the Terriers for the final game of the regular season. </p><p class="p1">In almost stark reversal of the night before, it was the Terriers that could not put the Wildcats away.</p><p class="p1">Although that is not how the game opened or appeared. About 15 minutes into the first half, the Terriers got the ball into the mid field and with one touch the Terrier attacker beat the Wildcat defender and found himself one-on-one with the Wildcat keeper for a 1-0 lead. </p><p class="p1">The Terriers would then score twice more in the next minutes for a 3-0 lead.</p><p class="p1">But with less than five minutes to go in the first half, Ryan Stark found Zach Parr on the move deep in the Terrier defense and lobbed a ball over the defensive line that Parr tracked down and placed around the Terrier keeper to cut the score to 3-1 at the half.</p><p class="p1">A fired up Wildcat team started the second half strong. </p><p class="p1">John Russell found himself on the base line early and was able to place the ball around the inside post to cut the lead to 3-2. </p><p class="p1">A few minutes later Zach Parr had the ball inside the penalty area and was taken down by a Terrier defender and the Cats were awarded a penalty kick. </p><p class="p1">Ryan Stark took the penalty shot and placed it in the right corner for the 3-3 tie.</p><p class="p1">But the Terriers were not done either. With a new ballgame, the Terriers worked the ball to the outside and caught the Wildcat defense out of position and took a shot on keeper Jake Parr that deflected and went into the goal for another Terrier lead. But the Wildcats would again respond.</p><p class="p1">Another foul on Zach Parr inside the penalty area led to another penalty shot for the Wildcats. </p><p class="p1">Again it was Ryan Stark stepping to the penalty stripe and taking the shot. This time he went left and the Terrier keeper guessed right and the Wildcats had again tied the game 4-4.</p><p class="p1">With all the momentum and the game winding down, the Wildcats kept pressure on the Terrier defense. </p><p class="p1">The final score came when Jared Collier found the ball inside the six yard box and placed it just inside the right post for a Wildcat goal and their first lead, 5-4. </p><p class="p1">Jake Parr saved two more hard attacks by the Terriers late in the game and Wildcats came away with a 5-4 victory.</p><p class="p1">With the win, the Wildcats finished the regular season 14-5-1. </p><p class="p1">They host the IHSA regional playoffs at the A-J field. The Wildcats opened play Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 13. If they won, the Wildcats play for the regional championship Saturday, Oct. 17, at 11 a.m. against the winner of Breese Central/Mt. Carmel.</p>