BonnerSprings.com

Most coaches would take a 2-0 victory in soccer and have high praise for their own squad. On Monday night though, Mill Valley coach Arlan Vomhof was quick to praise one of his opponents from Bonner Springs.

“Bonner’s keeper (Brett Steuart) made some great saves, just pulled out some fabulous saves,” Vomhof said. “There were a couple he barely got a toe on, a couple only a finger, and sometimes we just shot the ball right at him. I have to credit him, he really did a good job.”

The Braves fell to 2-2 with the loss despite Steuart’s strong effort, but they will have a chance for revenge later on this season when the Jaguars visit BSHS.

Monday night’s match was not considered a Kaw Valley League game, but coach Mike Moulin did not look at the game any differently than he would if it were a league contest.

“We were just flat, just real lax in warm-ups. It was just a disappointing effort by the whole team,” Moulin said.

The Jaguars evened their record at 3-3 with the victory, though Vomhof said things are not where they need to be yet.

“In the first half we moved the ball better than we had all year, but in the second half we fell into some of our bad habits,” Vomhof said. “We started doing some of the things that we have been working on not doing in practice. We have only had six games so we are still trying to piece things together.”

The Jaguars got on the board 13 minutes into the game. Junior Trace Linton started a run down the right sideline and was able to get by the Braves’ defense. He fired a waist-high pass to teammate Garrett Vinson who was crashing down the middle of the field. Vinson received the pass in stride and buried a right-footed shot into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Steuart continued to put on a show for the Braves, stealing a couple of goals away from Mill Valley by punching, lunging and kicking at anything that was in — or outside of — his grasp.

“We left Brett hanging out to dry all night,” Moulin said. “He played great though.”

The Jaguars led 1-0 at halftime.

Bonner Springs had its chances, too. Junior Conner Harrington had the best shot at a goal for the Braves when he took a penalty kick after teammate Dale Jiang was tripped in the box. MVHS freshman goalkeeper Taylor Hunter stood waiting to be challenged, but Harrington’s kick sailed wide to the left.

Mill Valley sophomore David Stichka added the decisive second goal with 12 minutes left.

“We try to emphasize that they need to come to the game ready (to play) and, it was obvious we weren’t ready tonight,” Moulin said. “We aren’t very disciplined in that area. This (loss) is good for us right now because the boys realize that they aren’t ‘all that.’ They realize that they need to work hard.”

The Braves were back in action Wednesday at Bishop Ward. Results were unavailable at press time. They play again at 6 p.m. Monday at home against Lansing.

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