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It was something in the making for 24 years now — a conference victory.
Without a conference for 23 years of their existence, the Neosho Wildcats soccer team made history Thursday night.
And did so in dramatic fashion.
It took all 80 minutes of regulation, two 10-minute overtime sessions and then penalty kicks to decide the winner. Thanks to some nice play in the goal by Brad Toomoth, the Wildcats pulled out a 2-1 in over Nixa at Lions Field.
Neosho started soccer in 1985-1986, but is in a conference for the first time.
“Finally, a conference win,” chuckled Neosho coach Steve Schnackenberg, a former player at NHS.
Neosho held on to win by scoring three goals in the shootout, while Nixa had only two goals.
The star of the game was obviously Toomoth, who had 12 saves during regulation.
He started out blocking the first shots in the shootout. His third block, one which if went in would’ve tied the shootout, was deflected.
That save sent the entire Neosho team running down to greet Toomoth near the goal and a dogpile ensued.
Toomoth was carried back to the Neosho bench by his teammates.
“I didn’t want to let my team down,” said Toomoth of his thoughts in goal. “I wanted to stop the ball.”
Sounds pretty easy, right? Not bad considering Toomoth had never been in the situation before.
Typically a midfielder, he had started most games in goal this year.
So, this scenario was a tough way to learn on the fly of how to goaltend in an overtime scenario.
First up was Nixa and Tyler Krahenbuhl had his shot blocked by Toomoth. Neosho’s Jared Hill scored on his shot for Neosho, hitting the opening at the top, left-hand corner of the goal.
Nathan Massey was up for Nixa and his shot on the ground was smothered by Toomoth.
Austin Williams deked Nixa goalie Marcus Fernandes, moving left, but kicking to an open goal on the other side. Josh Rose scored for Nixa, making it 2-1. Neosho’s Jordan Blevins scored, making it 3-1, again, making a move to fake out the goalie and kicking it in to an open side.
Chandler Hale kicked and had his shot deflected by Toomoth, but the ball hit the ground and spun enough it hit the left goal post and went in, making it 3-2.
Josh Jesperson’s shot hit the cross bar for Neosho, leaving the score at 3-2.
It was something in the making for 24 years now — a conference victory.
Without a conference for 23 years of their existence, the Neosho Wildcats soccer team made history Thursday night.
And did so in dramatic fashion.
It took all 80 minutes of regulation, two 10-minute overtime sessions and then penalty kicks to decide the winner. Thanks to some nice play in the goal by Brad Toomoth, the Wildcats pulled out a 2-1 in over Nixa at Lions Field.
Neosho started soccer in 1985-1986, but is in a conference for the first time.
“Finally, a conference win,” chuckled Neosho coach Steve Schnackenberg, a former player at NHS.
Neosho held on to win by scoring three goals in the shootout, while Nixa had only two goals.
The star of the game was obviously Toomoth, who had 12 saves during regulation.
He started out blocking the first shots in the shootout. His third block, one which if went in would’ve tied the shootout, was deflected.
That save sent the entire Neosho team running down to greet Toomoth near the goal and a dogpile ensued.
Toomoth was carried back to the Neosho bench by his teammates.
“I didn’t want to let my team down,” said Toomoth of his thoughts in goal. “I wanted to stop the ball.”
Sounds pretty easy, right? Not bad considering Toomoth had never been in the situation before.
Typically a midfielder, he had started most games in goal this year.
So, this scenario was a tough way to learn on the fly of how to goaltend in an overtime scenario.
First up was Nixa and Tyler Krahenbuhl had his shot blocked by Toomoth. Neosho’s Jared Hill scored on his shot for Neosho, hitting the opening at the top, left-hand corner of the goal.
Nathan Massey was up for Nixa and his shot on the ground was smothered by Toomoth.
Austin Williams deked Nixa goalie Marcus Fernandes, moving left, but kicking to an open goal on the other side. Josh Rose scored for Nixa, making it 2-1. Neosho’s Jordan Blevins scored, making it 3-1, again, making a move to fake out the goalie and kicking it in to an open side.
Chandler Hale kicked and had his shot deflected by Toomoth, but the ball hit the ground and spun enough it hit the left goal post and went in, making it 3-2.
Josh Jesperson’s shot hit the cross bar for Neosho, leaving the score at 3-2.
Nixa’s Clinton Joslyn then had his shot blocked to set up the celebration, as the deflection off Toomoth’s hand won the game.
Neosho (3-4 overall, 1-1 in COC) led 1-0 at halftime. Hill scored a goal, on a header, on a pass from Blevins in the 31st minute.
Kaleb Romero scored on a pass from Massey for Nixa in the 73rd minute, which forced OT.
Nixa had 12 shots on goal, while Neosho had eight shots on goal.
Nixa won the first meeting, 1-0, last week.
“We felt like we definitely could take a game back,” said Schnackenberg. “They played well tonight. They gave us everything we could take.”
