McPHERSON, Kan. – The McPherson High boys soccer team hosted Classical School of Wichita on Tuesday night and after a bit of a shaky start to each half, they ended with a 5-2 win.
Classical scored first on a counterattack to take a 1-0 lead, but the Bullpups answered late in the first half on a goal by Leo Gaspar Menez, tapping home a great assist from Jackson Martin. Right before the break, the Bullpups added another goal from freshman Miguel Alonzo, assisted by Yahir Valadez, to put McPherson up 2-1 at halftime.
Classical struck first in the second half as well. They scored on a free kick just one minute into the half. However, tied at two, the Bullpups responded again, scoring three unanswered goals. Valadez used great skills off of an assist from Dmitry Peters to score and put the Bullpups back up 3-2. Martin assisted Valadez on the next goal as the Bullpups to a 4-2 lead. The final goal came from Martin to ice the game at 5-2.
McPherson had 10 shots on goal in total, putting half of those in the net. Goalkeeper Hunter Schroeder registered three saves on the night to secure the victory.
“I was really pleased with how the team handled adversity tonight, both with the way the game unfolded and with an opponent playing a different type of defensive setup than we typically see,” said coach Chris Adrian. “The boys played with a lot of heart and, more importantly, with a confidence that has been really fun to watch grow.”
McPherson improved to 7-4 overall and will hit the road on Thursday to face Winfield.
In Tuesday night’s JV contest, McPherson defeated Classical School 4-1 behind goals from Aiden Pattison, Jameson Bowers, Pedro Francisco and Farzad Saifi.
