WORTHINGTON - Scoring twice in the first half and adding a demoralizing goal at 26:47 of the second half, the Waseca Bluejays evened their 2015 record against the Worthington Trojans boys soccer team Tuesday night with a 3-0 victory - causing Trojans head coach Smitty Ektnitphong to ponder the need to re-evaluate where his team is heading.
“I sense that since the Fairmont game (a 13-0 WHS win on Sept. 22), that we have coasted. We don’t seize the moment that comes around only so often,” Ektnitphong explained after Tuesday’s game. “I don’t think (the players) will admit it. But as a coach, I can feel it. I don’t know why. Everything was in our favor … So I think we have to re-evaluate ourselves in the next few days.”
Since Worthington beat Fairmont, it has beaten Marshall 2-0 and New Prague 2-1 prior to facing Waseca, which lost to the Trojans 2-0 on Sept. 3. What seemed to rankle Ektnitphong the most Tuesday night was his belief that the Trojans aren’t taking shots when they present themselves. The players have to realize it’s not always going to be a perfect shot opportunity. They need to take it anyway, because if they don’t, it’s over in a split-second, he said.
“We just literally take ourselves out of the shot,” he explained.
Waseca improved to 8-2-1 with the victory. Worthington is now also 8-2-1.
The Bluejays scored their first goal at the 10:35 mark of the first quarter as Misha Bomsta tallied it with a free kick. Then at the 27:34 mark Hugo Castaneda made a clean kick that nestled in the upper left corner.
With 26:47 gone in the second half, Waseca’s Oswaldo Badillo picked up a loose ball in front of the Worthington net and scored on a dribbler. Playing good defense the rest of the way, the Bluejays kept the Trojans from mounting a comeback on Meet the Trojans Night.
“Worthington is a very good team. I thought we matched their intensity and quickness. It was good we took advantage of the few chances we had,” said Waseca head coach Terry Nafe.
Nafe credited his team’s defense. “We gave a couple of good chances in the first half. But not many in the second half,” he said.
“Waseca came in ready to play. My goodness, they’re as good as they’re advertised,” Ektnitphong said. “We have to give them a lot of credit.”
But to Ektnitphong, the Bluejays had it easier than they should have. Worthington missed three solid players - senior Jose Bahena re-aggravated a previous injury in warmups and didn’t play, sophomore Ricky Ibarra experienced back spasms at the end of the first half, and freshman MooDay Wah missed the second half due to an ankle injury. However, Ektnitphong said that even without those three, the Trojans had enough talent available to compete.
It was all good for Nafe, however, who was well aware of the difficulties Worthington can give any team.
“They don’t give you a lot of touches on the ball,” he said, finally noting that that earlier loss wasn’t forgotten.
“And I think that was in the back of our minds,” he said. “The 2-0 loss to them at home.”
Worthington 0 0 - 0
Waseca 2 1 - 3
