Varsity soccer celebrates senior night and goes 2 and 1 during the week

The Staunton Varsity Boys High School Team went two and one this week, posting victories over Roxana and Carlyle while losing a hard fought match against Carlinville.

On Tuesday, Oct. 3, the Bulldogs hosted Carlinville and it was Senior night in Staunton. The Bulldogs recognized their 4 Seniors on the squad: Cole Aberle, Victor Buehler, Ethan Rantanen, and manager Bryle Langer. Thank you to these four young men for their time and talent that they have given the club the past 4 years. It will not be forgotten.

The match was scoreless, until Carlinville put their first goal on the board with 11 minutes left in the first half to take a 1 - 0 lead. Then, with 2:30 left in the half, the Cavaliers scored their second goal to take a 2 - 0 lead into intermission.

The second half began with both teams playing hard until Carlinville put a ball into their defending goal, to give the Bulldogs their first goal of the match to make the score 2 to 1, Cavaliers. Then, with just 14 seconds left in the half, Cole Aberle scored the first of his two goals, to force the contest into overtime.

mIn the first period of overtime, Carlinville scored with 4:30 left in the period, to take a 3 to 2 lead going into the intermission. The Bulldogs started the second period of overtime with a determination to not be stopped, as Aberle scored his second goal of the match, tying the match at 3. Then, with 6:30 left in the second overtime period, Carlinville scored what would be the game winner to give the Cavaliers a 4 to 3 victory. Ethan Sharp had an assist on a goal and Ty Simpson made 23 saves. In a shortened JV match, Carlinville defeated Staunton 4 to 0.

On Thursday, Oct. 5, the Bulldogs traveled to Roxana for a match against the Shells for a varsity match. Cole Aberle had all three goals for the Bulldogs in this match. Aberle scored his first goal with 11 minutes in the first half, and then, he followed up with his second goal with 2:30 left in the first half to give the Bulldogs a 2 to 0 lead at intermission. Aberle picked up where he left off in the second half, scoring his third goal for his first career hat trick.

Late in the second half, the Shells put a goal on the board to cut the deficit, but it wasn't enough, as the Bulldogs came out victorious by a score of 3 to 1. Ty Simpson and Aaron Bodner each had an assist in the match, and Simpson had 12 saves in goal.

On Saturday, Oct. 7, the Bulldogs traveled to Carlyle to play the Indians in a varsity match. With 10 minutes left in the first period, on a chilly day in Carlyle, Aaron Bodner scored the Bulldogs first goal, to give them a 1 to 0 lead, which was the score going into intermission.

The second period began with Cole Aberle scoring the first of his two goals, the first one just two minutes into the second period to give the Bulldogs a 2 to 0 lead. Aberle picked up from where he left off, scoring his second goal just three minutes later to give the Bulldogs a 3 to 0 lead. Cole has scored seven goals in the last three matches.

With 15 minutes left, Rhyse Rucker scored to give theBulldogs a 4 to 0 lead and the eventual victory. Ethan Sharp had an assist in the match and Ty Simpson had nine saves in the match, including an outstanding save on a penalty kick with less than two minutes left in the match.

The Bulldogs are 9 - 11 overall, 4 - 4 in the conference and tied for 5th place. They will begin postseason play on Friday Oct. 13, when they travel to Greenville for a 6 p.m. contest against the Comets.

Submitted by Tim Seelbach