NEOSHO, Mo. — Neosho soccer saw its impressive season come to an end in the quarterfinal round of the Class 3 playoffs following a 3-1 loss to Glendale on Tuesday at Bob Anderson Stadium.
“We played hard, which I knew we would,” Neosho coach James Carter said. “I really thought we played well, and I thought we played our style until the very end. If you are going to go out in the last game of the year, that’s the way you want to go out—attacking and possessing, that sort of stuff. If you were just going to sum it up, they scored on the couple chances they got and we didn’t. That is just kind of what the game came down to today.”
Neosho closes the season with a 19-2 record, earning a district title and sectional win in the process.
“It really was domination from beginning to end, and we played a lot of games and a lot of good teams,” Carter said. “It’s important to play well in the playoffs and get hot in the playoffs and be playing your best soccer, but if you look back at a regular season like that, to be that good consistently every day is incredibly hard to do. Props to them because they showed up every day against teams we should beat and teams we shouldn’t beat — all that stuff — and played some great soccer. It was a great season to look back on.”
Both teams were feeling each other out throughout the first half before Glendale was awarded a free kick just outside the 18-yard box after nearly 30 minutes of scoreless action. Andrei Balanean converted the free kick into a goal in the 27th minute to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead, the margin at the intermission.
“I think it took us some time to settle in,” Carter said. “What we found in the last 10 minutes is that when we were attacking, we were the most comfortable and they were the most uncomfortable.”
Glendale took advantage of a miscue on the defensive end by Neosho near the 18-yard box, which resulted in a goal from Haiden Casper to put the Falcons up 2-0 in the 53rd minute of action.
“That was tough,” Carter said. “I didn’t feel like they had a ton of chances in the second half. The ones they got, they made them count. We had a lot of possession in our half and final third, and just couldn’t get one in until late. That was the theme of the day for us.”
The final goal from Glendale came from Charlie Raridon from in close during the 66th minute.
Neosho got on the board with 33 seconds of time left on the clock when Trey Darcy found the back of the net.
SAYING GOODBYE
The Wildcats graduate 11 seniors—Kayden Wood, Trey Darcy, Vance Montgomery, Carlos Hernandez, Alberto Robledo, Walker Stipp, Diego Vargas, Brandon McIlvaine, Melvin Lopez as well as Freddie Oxlaj and Jayzee Rubio.
“It’s hard to put it into words,” Carter said. “What I told them, I think this program is really in debt to that senior class. It’s probably a debt we’ll never be able to repay. They just gave us so much—four straight district championships, sectional wins, quarterfinal wins and a trip to the state playoffs. They really set the standard. … I told them I know this is a tough loss, but when you look back at the regular season we put together, it’s one for the record books. We are really proud of that.”
