Kennedy Stays Undefeated (Barely), Setting Up Showdown with Iowa City West Saturday

Kennedy, ranked #3 in the state and sporting a 10-0-0 record, entered the match with rival Cedar Rapids Prairie with revenge on its mind. The Hawks were the team that ended the Cougars momentous  2009 season in the Substate semifinal last May. Kennedy was looking for some pay back Tuesday.

The Cougars started the match strong and completely dominated the entire first half. The Hawks came out very defensive, looking for the flash goal on the counter-attack, and were absorbing everything that Kennedy could throw at them. The Cougars created numerous chances to score, but could not find a way to get the ball into the back of the Prairie net. The only time they were able to score, senior forward Colton Benhart was ruled to be offside and the goal was disallowed. The match went to the break, tied, 0-0.

In the second half it was more of Kennedy keeping the possession and the ball in the Prairie end of the field. The Hawks continued to defend relentlessly and would not break down enough for Kennedy to score. Regulation ended with the match still tied 0-0.

Overtime was a repeat of the first two halves, but it looked as if the Cougars had finally broken through when senior midfielder Phil Vermie took a free kick from 25 yards out and served the ball right to the top of the six for fellow senior Erik Boyer. Boyer’s header hit the crossbar and bounced down, eventually being covered by the Prairie goalkeeper. While numerous Cougars thought the ball had crossed the goal line, no goal was awarded and the game moved into penalty kicks to decide the match.

Kennedy calmly stepped up and made all four of its kicks, while penalty specialist Ben Feltes (sophomore, goalkeeper) again made his presence felt by forcing a miss on the Hawks second kicker and then sealing the victory with a stop on Prairie’s fourth kicker, giving the Cougars the win, 1-0 (4-2 in PKs).

The win moves Kennedy to 11-0-0 on the season and 7-0 in the MVC. The Cougars will face rival Iowa City West, the #1 ranked team in the state, on Saturday morning at 8:00 am at the Kennedy soccer field. They will also host the #11 ranked Little Hawks of Iowa City High at noon the same day.

Cougars Jump in National Rankings

Kennedy, who entered the national poll, for the first time since 2009, last week at the #46 spot climbed up to the #26 spot this week. The Cougars were the top moving team this week and it matches their highest ranking ever, also reaching #26 in week #8 of the 2009 season.

The full article is below:

The ESPNRISE.com FAB 50 is released every Tuesday throughout the spring season. The spring-playing states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

[Rankings are through matches played Sunday, April 25, 2010]

And then there were none ...

Last week, three teams from Oklahoma were undefeated and rapidly climbing in the FAB 50.

A week later, there's not a single undefeated squad, and none rated higher than No. 13. Such is the nature of high school soccer, where so many teams are just one goal away from what would be considered a surprising loss.

Despite the setbacks by Putnam City, Edmond Memorial and Owasso, only Owasso exits the FAB 50 based on a multi-loss week. Putnam City remains the highest-rated Oklahoma squad.

Elsewhere, there was little action in the FAB 50 -- save some mild movement. The week's big climber is Kennedy (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), which moves to No. 26 powered by a 10-0 start. Right now, Iowa features four 10-0-0 teams, and all four crack the FAB 50 this week.

Team capsules on the Top 25 will be added later Tuesday.