Eagles soccer falls 2-1 in double OT vs. Indians

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
 
The Grain Valley boys soccer team had an opportunity to put itself within striking distance of first place in the Suburban White Conference.
 
The Eagles took on conference rival Fort Osage on the road and were looking to avenge a loss earlier in the season when they fell to the Indians 5-4 following a shootout.
 
Grain Valley appeared to come out energized for the matchup as it dominated possession for most of the contest and created several good looks inside the Fort Osage penalty box. However, the Eagles only capitalized on one of those opportunities and they gave up a late goal in regulation and a game winner in double overtime in a 2-1 loss Wednesday.
 
Fort Osage improved to 9-4 overall and 7-2 and are not just one game back of Belton for first place in the White Conference. Grain Valley fell to 8-5 and 5-3 in league play.
 
Following the game, head coach Brett Lewis delivered a message of positivity to his team.
 
“We wanted to win the conference and now it’s out of our control,” Lewis said. “A lot of teams would beat themselves up over this. I just wanted to reiterate that we have a lot to play for and told them to keep their head up. We are a good team. We create a lot of opportunities. We just have to get marginally better.”
 
Fort Osage junior Adrian Galeas scored the game winner. He received a high volley from junior Kloden Kuntz from the right sideline following a counterattack. The ball bounced deep in the 18-yard box. Grain Valley goalkeeper Luke Crawford hesitated and came off his line late to collect the ball. That allowed Galeas to beat Crawford to the ball and poked it past him for the goal.
 
“He thought maybe the defense was going to get it,” Lewis said. “When it looked like the ball was going to skip too far past them, he came out a little too late. Their No. 10 got a toe on it.”
 
Clutch play from the Indians at the end of regulation helped set up the winner from Galeas. They were trailing 1-0 going into the final 5 minutes. Up to that point, Grain Valley dominated possession, but the Indians put on the pressure late.
 
That eventually resulted in junior Nick Cornejo getting fouled inside Grain Valley’s penalty box in the 77th minute. Senior midfielder Blake Overbeck hit a perfectly-place penalty kick inside the upper right corner of the goal for the equalizer.
 
“Our clearances were bad and our headers were bad,” Lewis said. “We got caught on our back foot in the last 10 minutes. We were inviting pressure. Every touch was too far out. We didn’t find our targets very well. We weren’t able to handle the pressure and weren’t clean in the back.”
 
 
Before that, the Eagles created multiple chances to score, but many shots went just wide or over the Indians’ goal. Eagles senior Cohen Hackworth had three clean shots from inside the 18-yard box but Fort goalkeeper Logan Kaeding made saves on all the attempts, including two he dove for. Grain Valley senior forward Lukas Gutauskas also had a close-range shot that Kaeding stopped.
 
The Eagles lone score came on an unassisted goal from Hackworth, who volleyed a shot into the upper 90 on a sliding kick in the 47th minute.
 
“We were looking to dictate the game and control possession,” Lewis said. “I certainly felt like we created a lot of opportunities. It was kind of a woulda, shoulda, coulda type of game. We controlled the game, and we had lots of opportunities. We just couldn’t connect on the final pass or get the final shot on frame when we needed it.”