Hacksworth, Luna come up big in Eagles’ 2-1 win over Indians

by Michael Smith


Grain Valley head boys soccer coach Brett Lewis was not pleased with how his team played.

His Eagles had a Suburban White Conference matchup against Fort Osage Monday on the road, and while they were creating chances at the opponent’s goal, there were issues with their first touch, finishing shots, and connecting on passes in the attacking third of the field.

In fact, Grain Valley trailed the Indians 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes of the game. Lewis moved junior defender Cohen Hackworth up top as a forward and the move paid off as he scored the equalizer late.

After two scoreless overtime periods, Grain Valley won a shootout 4-3 with senior forward Alexander Luna making the game winner to help his team take a 2-1 victory.

Lewis scolded his players after the match deeming what he said was sloppy play. Because of the Eagles’ struggled in the final third, Hackworth had a chance to score some goals when he was moved to forward and he did just that.

After Fort Osage knocked the ball out of bounds, Eagles senior Jackson Bieri rushed over to the sideline and immediately threw the ball in play. Hackworth chased it down and had a one-on-one opportunity with Indians goalkeeper Logan Kaeding. He made a run at the goal and pushed a shot past Kaeding to tie the score at 1-all in the 72nd minute.

“Our forwards were not great, so that’s why we had to put Cohen up to the final third,” Lewis said. “Cohen is not a forward, he’s a defender. He made some mistakes, but he adds an element to our attack with his aggressiveness and he’s really athletic.

“I threw him up there hoping it would change the game.”

Hackworth, who’s natural position is at defender, was pleased to get an opportunity to play up top again as he did the latter half of last season.

“I feel like I made a big difference up there,” Hackworth said. “I loved playing with my forwards again. We still had that chemistry from last year. That goal gave us a boost to keep going.”

The Eagles (3-3, 2-0 conference) had a chance to end it late. Junior forward Lukas Gutauskas fired a shot from the right sideline toward the Fort goal and it went just wide left of the goal. Hackworth had an open shot deep in Fort’s penalty box but his attempt sailed over the net.

​However, the Eagles got four made penalty kicks from Hackworth, sophomore Cooper Bousselot, Bieri and Luna to win it. Luna’s spot in the shootout normally would have gone to Gutauskas, but he sustained a lower-body injury in overtime.

​“I was going inside the left post the entire time, I am just glad it went in,” Luna said.

Grain Valley goalkeeper Alex Tuttle made two huge diving stops on Fort’s final two attempts from Austin Sinclair and Blake Overbeck to give Luna a chance to win it. Tuttle dove to his right on all five save attempts during the shootout and the strategy panned out.

“I was scared because I thought they were going to pick up on Alex diving right every time,” Hackworth said. “But he does what he does best. I am proud of him.”

Fort Osage only had two shots on goal the entire game, but senior forward Beck Snowden put one of those away.  Sophomore midfielder Bogan Weikel stole the ball form a Grain Valley player and started a counterattack. He sent a through ball to a wide-open Snowden to punched a breakaway shot past Tuttle in the 34th minute.

However, Fort couldn’t get another one to go in the rest of the way.
 

Junior defender Cohen Hackworth, left, made a goal in the 72nd minute and senior Alexander Luna made the game winning penalty kick in a shootout to help the Grain Valley boys soccer team defeat Fort Osage 2-1 Monday at Fort Osage High School. Photo credit: Michael Smith