Work Sample #8: "Lions burn Blazers"

This was an audition piece for the Leavenworth Times.
The first rain in weeks came Monday morning during an otherwise unusually warm October. The field at Lansing Middle School was soggy and muddy for the varsity soccer game against the Gardner-Edgerton Blazers, but the slippery conditions did little to stop an accurate Lion offense, which carried them to a 6-2 victory.

“I really enjoyed the play that our guys had,” head coach Randy Brown said. “We were rested and ready for this game.”
The mud made things interesting for both teams, forcing their goalkeepers to work hard. Lansing goalkeeper Briscoe Elliot said playing in the mud was fun and messy, but he also said it was difficult to judge where the ball was going to go “because it would skip or stick in the water.”
Andy Ericks scored Lansing’s first goal only seven minutes in to the game, followed by the first of four goals by Jake McCurry. Chris Rathjen scored Lansing’s other goal.
Gardner-Edgerton’s only first half goal came nine minutes in from Dilon Dodson. Derek Hoerisch scored the Blazer’s second goal with only 25 seconds left in the game.
Brown called Gardner-Edgerton’s offense superb and said it was a great test of Lansing’s defense.
“It made for some exciting soccer. A little too exciting at times, but our defense did what it had to do to win,” Brown said. Much of the game was spend near the Lions’ net, but the Gardner-Edgerton offense kept misfiring, leading to only six shots on goal and many more that went wide.
Brown also praised the Lions’ defense for getting four goals in quick succession, all within the first 16 minutes of the game.
“Jake McCurry especially, putting in some great balls for us that gave us that big lead, that was the key to the game,” Brown said.
Lansing had 11 shots on the Blazer goal.
Brown also said Monday’s game was great practice for the upcoming game against the Piper Pirates. If Lansing wins in Thursday’s matchup, they’ll fulfill their goal of being Kaw Valley League champions.