CARROLL — The Creston Panthers answered early adversity by tieing the game on a Brance Baker goal in the first half and opened the floodgates offensively after halftime to beat Kuemper Catholic 4-1 on the road in boys soccer Tuesday evening.
Coming off a tournament championship at home over the weekend, Creston head coach Chad Malmanger liked how his boys responded to the Knights claiming an early 1-0 lead.
“Brance just beat the goalie short side and it was good to get the game rolling that way,” Malmanger said. “Aidan Anderson came through and had three goals in the second half for us.”
Success on defense, and an ability to shutout Kuemper for the rest of the game, came when the Panthers were able to key in on a few crucial players for the Knights.
“They have a few really good players, so once we kind of found our magic with those two players, everything else fell into place,” Malmanger said. “I think that’s a true testament to how the boys are playing right now. Once one thing starts clicking most everything just falls into place.”
Creston is riding a five-game win streak late in the season. The Panthers host Harlan Community for their regular season finale Monday night at Panther Stadium.
“We’ve got some boys fighting the injury bug right now. We’ve got some tired or strained shins,” Malmanger said. “I think if we can spend the next couple days getting healthy and get ready for Harlan Monday night, it’d be nice to be healthy and rested up by Monday night.”
Atlantic beats Creston girls 7-0
ATLANTIC — Behind five goals from Jada Jensen, the Atlantic Trojans beat Creston 7-0 in girls soccer at the Trojan Bowl Tuesday night.
Creston head coach Ryan Kissell said that at least one positive from the game was the performance of Ryli Abildtrup in goal. She finished her first game back after suffering a concussion with 26 saves on 33 shots.
“We’re still playing a little shorthanded, but we can’t have that as a crutch,” Kissell said. “We have to make better plays on the ball against good teams. We got outran a few times on the back end after some misplays, and it cost us.”