Ryle’s boys soccer team believed in sharing.
By the end of Tuesday’s state boys soccer first-round game against Bishop Brossart, the Raiders had overwhelmed the Mustangs, 6-0, at CR Borland Stadium.
Next for Ryle: a home game against 15th Region winner Johnson Central, a 1-0 winner over 16th Region champion East Carter, on Saturday.
Besides the final score, what you noticed Tuesday was Ryle equally distributing the offense. Six Raiders – Damien Lakis, Cooper Neace, Danny Harding, Chase McCarthy, Grant McCoy and David Savicki each scored a goal.
“And I think there was another three guys with assists,” Ryle coach Stephen Collins said. “So you got nine goal contributions and six goals, and that’s what we like to see. We like to spread around and get a lot of guys involved.”
Actually, there were four Raider assists: Neace, Maddox Rollins, McCoy and Daniel Lopez each had one.
Ryle outshot Brossart, 19-6. The Raiders don’t have one main scorer, but it hasn’t mattered – Preston Scott, Neace, McCarthy and Harding all have at least 10 goals.
“Our team’s been unbelieveable this season when it comes to possessing the ball and stuff, especially our midfield,” Harding said.
Brossart finished at 12-11-2 and won their second straight 10th Region title.
“They play well as a team,” Brossart coach Donny Bray said of Ryle. “It’s just unfortunate we had them in the first round.”
Brossart (12-11-2) made one change Tuesday, moving leading scorer Luke Neltner to a defensive center midfielder.
“He wins balls in the air,” Bray said. “He’s a big body, and traditionally my center midfielders are smaller and more technical.”
Ryle’s (23-3-1) solution: keep the ball on the ground.
“Our goal is to go outside wide, so (it) didn’t really affect us a lot because we didn’t change our strategy of using our speed getting around the corner and getting those passes in at the penalty kick line,” Collins said.
McCoy twice exploited Brossart defensive lapses in the ninth and 11th when he split two Mustang defenders and was alone against goalkeeper Ryan Eldridge, who made both saves.
“But what it did is, it opened up some other runs down the road that allowed us to get some more shots on goal,” Collins said.
Then came the two-minute sequence from the 20th to the 22nd minute – and the beginning of Brossart’s nightmare.
In order: Lakis scored on Neace’s corner kick in the 20th, Neace from Rollins in the 21st and Harding’s tap-in of McCoy’s pass in the 22nd.
Harding suffered a bone bruise last week. He didn’t practice Monday, and it wasn’t certain he would play until pregame warmups.
“Going into this game, I was honestly 50-50,” Harding said. “I didn’t know what to expect, it was a game-time decision. I took a lot of Tylenol and played through it.”
Ryle had another two-minute scoring spurt in the second half on McCarthy’s unassisted goal in the 46th minute and McCoy’s penalty kick in the 48th. Savicki converted Lopez’s pass in the 75th.
“I only have three (goals) all year,” McCoy said.
“We just could not find our bearings,” Bray said. “And Ryle was able to capitalize on mistakes, and they did just that.”
Collins doesn’t know anything about Johnson Central.
“We’ve got a couple days, so we’ll do a deep dive,” Collins said. “We’ll try and find some film on (the Golden Eagles) and see what their strengths and weaknesses are and how we can attack them.”
Game statistics
Goals: (R) Lakis (20’), Neace (21’), Harding (22’), McCarthy (46’), McCoy (48’), Savicki (75’)
Assists: (R) Neace (20’), Rollins (21’), McCoy (22’), Lopez (75’)
Shots (On Goal): Ryle 19 (10), Bishop Brossart 6 (2)
