Kennedy Dominates Senior For Win

Kennedy traveled to Dubuque to take on the Dubuque Senior Rams. The Cougars came off the bus a little slow, not stepping to the ball and doing a little watching, but were able to keep the ball for the most part and attack the Ram’s goal. After a couple early chances, senior forward Chris Bruns got his first attempt at goal of the afternoon. Bruns ripped a ball that beat the goalkeeper, but not the post, as it struck the top of the crossbar and went over the goal. Undeterred, Kennedy kept attacking and were rewarded in the 15th minute when senior midfielder Reid Galbraith played a ball to a supporting midfielder, junior Zach Pape. Pape found fellow junior, forward Erik Boyer, and Boyer got behind the defense and dispatched the ball neatly into the short post to give the Cougars the lead, 1-0. While Kennedy was able to attack, it was unable to get a second and went to the half with the slim lead, 1-0.

In the second half the Cougars picked up their play, and their dominance continued to push at and frustrate the host Rams. A few opportunities were followed by another ball put off the crossbar by Bruns. Then it was time for Boyer again. In the 57th minute, junior defender Nick Seedorff won a long clearance and slid the ball wide to the left for junior defender Ben Haas. Haas found Boyer, who turned two defenders and then slotted the ball home neatly into the back post, doubling the Kennedy lead, 2-0. The goal, along with the ensuing next five minutes of complete ball control by the Cougars seemed to demoralize the Rams and then Kennedy put the final nail in their coffin. in the 68th minute, reserve forward, junior Kevin Moore, received a ball from Galbraith. A nifty interplay between the two found Moore sitting just inside the penalty area with the ball at his feet and behind the defense. Moore found the back post with the shot, beating the goalkeeper and making the final score, 3-0.

JV Cougars Suffer First Loss of Season in Iowa City

With another rainy Monday facing the Cougars, IC West accomplished the unthinkable, they outworked the Cougars.  West was one of the toughest and fastest teams that the Cougars have faced all year, and yet the Cougars were able to hold their own throughout the first half, especially thankful for a penalty kick save from Drew Hamblin. After a quick halftime turnaround, the Cougars were on the attack again and for most of the half, the game was even, with the teams going back and forth and trading chances.  West was able to go up 1-0 on the Cougars, after a miscommunication on a corner ball that resulted in an own goal. With the Cougars pressing hard, the Trojans were able to take advantage of a tired backline and popped a goal over the head of the keeper to take a 2-0 lead. The last five minutes saw the Cougars pressuring West, but to no avail and West was able to walk off the field as the victors.  Kennedy looks forward to exacting our revenge in the home leg of our rivalry when we play West at the Kennedy soccer field on the 20^th of May.

Back in Action Tomorrow

Tomorrow Kennedy is back to it again as we will be traveling to Dubuque to take on Dubuque Senior at the Dubuque Soccer Complex. The varsity will play at 16:15 and the sophomores will follow, approximately at 18:00.

Kennedy Wins Two on First Double Header Weekend

Kennedy hosted both Cedar Falls and its 42nd Street rival Xavier on Saturday on the first weekend of MVC double header matches.

In the first match the Cougars completed a stunning comeback, down 2-0 with 7 minutes left in the game, by scoring 2 goals in the final 6:50 in the second half and then scoring the winner just 2:48 into the first overtime period. The Tigers took the lead off a dubious penalty kick call in the 20th minute. With Kennedy reeling over the call, Cedar Falls scored just a minute later on a shot from 30 yards out that skidded by senior goalkeeper Tyler Sievertsen and into the far post. The Cougars dominated the play, but continued a trend of missing chances that has plagued their early season games.

In the second half Kennedy came out with a renewed fervor and was all over the Tigers. Yet with all the pressure, and chances to score falling by the wayside, it looked as though the Cougars were heading to their second straight defeat. Then in the 74th minute, senior forward Chris Bruns gathered a ball about 40 yards from goal, turned, beat his defender and unleashed a vicious shot to the back post. While the Cedar Falls goalkeeper had made numerous acrobatic stops in the second half, he could not handle this one and the rebound fell to the feet of junior midfielder Phil Vermie. Vermie chopped the rebound in over the helpless goalkeeper to cut the lead to 2-1. Then with time seemingly going to run out on Kennedy, it got a corner kick with 20 seconds remaining. the kick went a little long and was flicked back across the goal by junior defender Ben Haas. The ball fell right in front of fellow junior forward Erik Boyer, and he did not miss from that range, tying the game at two with 9.7 seconds on the clock.

The Cougars wasted no time finishing the amazing comeback. In the first overtime they kept the ball and earned a corner kick. The kick came into the area and was flicked towards the back post by sophomore defender Nick Bruns. His flick found his brother, senior forward Chris Bruns, who hammered the ball into the roof of the net for the win, 3-2.

In the second game of the day, Kennedy faced their rival Xavier. Xavier had an easy 4-1 win in the morning and had been looking forward to getting revenge on the Cougars for their loss last season, 2-1 in penalty kicks. But Kennedy took control of the game and with the exception of a few shots from distance, the Saints never threatened the Cougar goal. Kennedy manufactured a few chances, but were getting more and more tired from the morning's match. By the last 15 minutes of the second half, an exhausted Cougar line-up began playing balls longer and got away from their possession game that had control of the match. The game evened out and the remainder of the match saw both teams attack, neither getting good scoring chances, and hold on in the defensive end. After two overtimes the game went into penalties to determine the winner.
Kennedy and Xavier both scored their respective first kicks, but the Cougars second kick missed wide right and the Saints had the advantage. Each team kept making kicks and it cam down to the fifth and final kicker for Xavier, if he made it the Saints would win. That was when freshman goalkeeper Ben Feltes, in the game as the penalty kick specialist, stepped up and saved Kennedy. He read the kick right and made a diving stop to his right to force the match into sudden death kicks. Each team's sixth kicker made, then after the Cougars seventh kick went in it was Feltes that had the stage again. The kick hit the post and came out and Kennedy won the match, 1-0, 6-5 in penalties.