Boys' soccer off to a good start

The Staunton boys’ soccer team started the season with back-to-back wins against Carlyle and Athens before dropping its first match against Springfield Lutheran Tuesday.

To kick off the season, the Bulldogs welcomed the Carlyle Indians on Thursday. The two opponents had not met in two years due to COVID, with the Indians getting the better of the Bulldogs last time. However, this time, Staunton was hungry for revenge, and revenge came quickly. In less than 30 seconds, senior captains Adam Overby (assist) and Ashton Copeland (goal) had connected to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. A few minutes later, sophomore midfielder Ethan Sharp would add goal number two on a beautiful cross that somehow found the back of the net instead. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead into the half.

The domination continued in the second half with Copeland leading the attack down the right side. He added two assists to his previous goal to lead all players in total points. Sophomores Rhyse Rucker and Carson Buffington were the ones who found the back of the net for the Bulldogs to secure the victory 4-0. Senior captain and goalkeeper Grant Neuhaus recorded the clean sheet with two saves.

On Saturday, the team traveled to Carlinville to participate in the Route 66 Kickoff Classic Tournament. Unfortunately, the team had to play in back-to-back games in scorching heat with little to no shade.

The Bulldogs got off to another outstanding start against their first opponent of the day, Athens. Senior striker Luke DeWitt started the scoring with Ashton Copeland getting his third assist of the season already. Not to be outdone, Rhyse Rucker followed up with his second goal in as many games with senior striker Troy Albertina assisting. The team would once again take a 2-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, freshman midfielder Aaron Bodner started his scoring campaign with a beautiful ball that just crept under the crossbar to make it 3-0 (junior defender Victor Buehler recorded the assist). Athens would not be shutout as they grabbed a late goal and tried to mount a comeback. However, Rucker and the Bulldogs had other plans as he netted yet another goal to put the Warriors out of their misery, 4-1.

With little more than 45 minutes of break time, the Bulldogs were thrust back into action against a rested Springfield Lutheran team. The team held their own for the first 35 minutes, but the heat and the exhaustion started to set in, and play got sloppy on both sides. The team had its chances early with several breakaways and shots that barely missed, and each near miss added to the frustration of the situation.

It was Lutheran that scored first, and then once more before halftime. It was clear to see that they were the team with the most energy, as Staunton was losing players left and right to heat exhaustion. The Knights netted two more to hand a 4-0 loss to the undefeated Bulldogs, and go 1-1 so far in the tournament.

The team still needs to play Carlinville on Tuesday to close out pool play, and then it will determine who it faces on Wednesday and at what time.