After a hard game, Boy’s Soccer lost 2-1 against Bishop Miege in overtime. The Bishop Miege Stags, a team from Kansas City, Missouri, were also the most recent state champions, making the tough nature of this game a learning experience for the Knights.
“Although it was a tough loss, tying the back to back to back state champions in Kansas is a huge indicator of how good our team is doing this season, and gives us some momentum for our upcoming games against Van Horn and Pembroke this week,” says forward Owen Snyder (‘24).
The game started with an early Miege goal, scored against goalie Alex Hart (‘24) in the first fifteen minutes of the game. Hart, however, had one of his best performances of the season as a whole, with more than 19 saves.
The whole first half was back and forth, each team proving themselves defensively.
On top of facing a hard school, the Knights also struggled with mentality coming into the game. Midfielder Raj Fanaswala (‘24) explains that, “We knew we were playing an extremely tough school, but we didn’t let the name scare us.”
Once the boys got back on the field after halftime, forward Cale Williams successfully scored, tying the game. Once again, the ball moved back and forth, demonstrating immense skill on all parts of the field.
Regular time ended still with a 1-1 tie, leading to a set of 10 minute overtime. Within the first two minutes though, #2 from Miege scored, ending the game 1-2.
Overall, though, Fanaswala continues, “We stuck to our game and put up a solid performance, but came up slightly short in OT.”
Goalie Alex Hart (‘24) echoes this statement, saying “We fought our hardest and I think we should be happy with our performance win or loss. We gave it everything we had, and it was a great game.”
Beyond the actual gameplay, this game also held significance within the coaching sphere, with Coach Scott Huppe’s brother, Nate Huppe as the head coach of the Miege team.
Additionally, this game was also the first to be played on the newly renovated turf field, located inside of the track. Proudly emblazoned with a Barstow Knights “B”, the turf field was a 7.5 million dollar project that was constructed throughout the summer, hoping to prevent excess moisture on the field.
The team plays on Thursday, so be sure to come out and support!
