Cyclones eliminated in 2A-8 Semifinal by Tigers, 2-1
With just over three and a half minutes remaining in regulation and the game tied at one, it looked like the Carroll Tigers and the HCHS Cyclones were headed into overtime, but Senior Tiger Chase Ragaller scored a goal, his second of the night, leading his team to a 2-1 victory ending the Cyclones soccer season.
“I told them how proud of them I was,” said Cyclone Head Coach Dave Voge. “The whole season we’ve had lots on injuries and/or sickness. I told the seniors they helped the younger students get better throughout the season. I didn’t care if they were on JV or varsity. They all mean the same thing to me.”
It took a little while for either team to score as both sides went quiet on offense until Senior Cyclone Elmer Argueta gave his team a 1-0 lead, sneaking a goal past Tiger goalkeeper Tanner Heithoff.
“They [Carroll] set the ball up and one of their guys tried to send it back up and it flicked backwards off his head, and luckily Elmer had made the run beforehand and he went right after the ball and in a nice one-on-one he had a great finish.”
The Cyclones took a 1-0 lead into halftime where Voge gave a strong message to his team.
“We were hoping to have a little bit of cushion, but we did not,” he said. “They’re going to come out and they’re going to play physical. They have nothing to lose. All the pressure was on us.”
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to get right back in the game as with less than five minutes into the second half, Ragaller kicked the ball that went just over the head of Cyclone Junior goalkeeper Alex Heithoff tying the game at one.
Following Ragaller’s goal, both sides continued to exchange passes getting down to the final few minutes of regulation when Ragaller broke the tie with his second goal of the night leading his team to victory.
“They did well,” Voge said of Carroll. “They executed. They went after every ball. We also did a good job, but they just out did it when it counted.”
The Cyclones finish their season with a 6-11 record with some of their wins coming against Atlantic, AHSTW, Red Oak, Underwood, and others. They were led by Argueta with 11 goals, Ian Kearney with five, Ian Shelton with four, and Nolan Schwery, Harrison Kjergaard, Josue Argueta, Alex McCulley, Cody Swank, Keaton Heileson, Wyatt Powell, and Brody Bendorf all with two. Heithoff had 93 saves.
“They came when they could,” Voge said. “They helped out when they could to make the other players better. If you’re not able to perform on the field, you do it elsewhere and you help the other guys get better, and that’s exactly what they did.”
The Cyclones won’t have Shelton, Kearney, Chapman, Powell, Heileson, Noah Schmitz, Argueta, Cole Heronimus, Quinn Mahoney, and Daniel Perez returning due to graduating. However, Voge is optimistic and excited for the future of Cyclone soccer.
“The future is very bright,” he said. “Our juniors this year, they have a lot of experience because we started them young as well, so I think next year we’ll be a solid team.”