Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008

Hawks soccer returns to winning ways

Griffin celebrates birthday with goal, two assists

It was Andy Griffin's 17th birthday, but he was the one delivering presents.

The Olathe East junior defender scored his second career Tuesday, but also assisted on tallies by seniors Jake Lundberg and Jeremy Wassmer as the Hawks cruised to a 4-0 victory against Shawnee Mission South at the College Boulevard Activity Center.

Coming off two losses last week versus SM East and Blue Valley North, the win was paramount for East's confidence.

"We wanted to come out and show everybody else, but more importantly prove to ourselves, that we are still in the chase to contend for a state title," Griffin said. "This was a phenomenal game for us."

Offense has been the Hawks' bugaboo most of the season, and last week's losing streak prompted a little soul-searching.

"After losing two games last week, we had a meeting to discuss how we could improve the season and where we would go from there," said senior Jared Kaunley, who delivered a perfect corner kick for the assist on Griffin's goal.

Shoring up the attack by providing better connectivity from front to back was one of the primary strategies to come from the meeting.

That mean Griffin would be more aggressive coming forward as part of the build up. Obviously, the move paid off.

Griffin didn't expect such dramatic results, though.

"I never figured I'd have a night like that," he said.

Not that he's complaining.

The game started inauspiciously for the Hawks, who conceded a penalty kick during the first minute.

Raiders star Christian Duke blasted a low, hard shot to Hawks goalkeeper Andrew Miller's right in a bid for the early lead, but the senior keeper guessed right and poked the ball over the end line.

"That woke us up, regardless of whether that was a foul or not," Kaunley said. "It definitely got our attention, and luckily Andrew made a stop. That was huge, because you never want to start a game one (goal) down."

Miller made another save on the ensuing corner kick and also pushed aside a threatening shot in the fourth minute before East took control for a while.

The game's momentum see-sawed back to SM South's favor before the final five minutes of the first half.

At the 1:41 mark, the Hawks finally broke through when junior Taylor Esparza booted a shot past Raiders goalkeeper Dan Leichty from the right side.

"The game had gone back and forth, and I know I thought to myself whoever scored first would come out on top," said Griffin, who rattled a 30-yard rocket off the crossbar with 150 seconds remaining before halftime. "Thank goodness we were first."

East improved to 9-3-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the league. More importantly, the win helped restore some confidence.

"We have to play the rest of the season like it's our last game every game, and that's what we did tonight," Kaunley said. "We've got to build on this, because we've got a lot of season left."

OLATHE EAST 4, SM SOUTH 0

Olathe East (Taylor Esparza, Jake Lundberg, Andy Griffin, Jeremy Wassmer; shutout by Andrew Miller). Records: SMS 5-4-3 (2-3-2 SL), OE 9-3-1 (5-2-1 SL).

Submit an ad