By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
In Thursday's final regular-season soccer game of the year, Topeka High and Seaman squared off in a thrilling defensive matchup that resulted in a 0-0 tie at Seaman.
Seaman honored its seniors on Senior Night before the first kick with a ceremony honoring Gavin Wilhelm, Kyson Evans, Pablo Font, Jake Moss, Trustin Shafer, Lawson Greig and Justin Kruse.
After the ceremony concluded, it was time to get to work.
Topeka High goalkeeper Logan Murray displayed that he is one of the area’s best young goalkeepers. As a sophomore, he’s opened a lot of eyes with his strong athleticism and his abilities in the goal. On the other side, junior Ayden Thompson has also been impressive for the Vikings with his long reach and blocking abilities and both goalkeepers provided shutouts for their teams throughout the game.
In the first couple of halves, things were mute offensively. Strong, physical pushes by both sides and clutch preventive kicks made the game competitive.
No matter how great the kicks were by either side in the first half, Murray and Thompson prevented them from putting a tally in the score column.
In the first overtime, the Vikes and Trojans sped up the game speed.
Murray for Topeka High was able to make three key stops to prevent the Vikes from scoring. Ayden Thompson prevented any movement inside of the goal with two huge momentum-boosting deflections.
Overtime number two was similar to the first overtime in terms of incredibly well-played defense.
With 12 seconds to go, Topeka High freshman CJ Brown drove the ball down to Seaman territory where he was met with a slide tackle preventing a Trojan goal. This would bring a the penalty kick and Topeka High picked senior Sergio Ramirez for the kick.
Ramirez had a full head of steam and kicked the ball as hard as he could Thompson stopped Ramirez' kick with a high dive to the right and prevented the Topeka High win.
Seaman’s sideline erupted with excitement.
“It was a pleasant match,'' Seaman coach Jacob Kirmer said. "We competed well and played hard against a tough Topeka (High) team. Overall we played well as a team.”
Kirmer is optimistic about Kansas regional play that starts next Monday.
“It’s a new season,'' he said. "Everyone starts 0 and 0. I like what we have. Now it’s about if we can put some offense together and knock someone off.”
The Trojans were deflated after the stop from Thompson and but High coach Derek Snook kept things in perspective for Topeka High.
“I thought we had our chances and I thought they had their chances,'' Snook said. "In the end, Seaman’s keeper made a heck of a save. But overall, I’m happy we competed. We competed for 100 minutes and I’m happy with that because we haven’t done that all season.
“I love our competitiveness. If we can carry that on, we can surprise some people. I think we can move the ball just a bit better, but overall I’m pleased with what we have.''
The tie game moves Seaman’s record to 4-11-1 and Topeka High finishes the regular season to 8-6-2.
TOPEKA HIGH 0, SEAMAN 0.
Topeka High (8-6-2) 0 0 0 0 -- 0
Seaman (4-11-1) 0 0 0 0 -- 0
Topeka High -- Shutout: Murray
Seaman -- Shutout: Thompson
