By Adam Knoll
Sports Correspondent
The Whitewater High School boys soccer team traveled to Evansville Sept. 16 for a contest against one of the two teams leading the Rock Valley South Conference.
The Whippets opened with the first goal of the match, coming from Mark Cuevas scored in the 35th minute. The next 45 minutes was a tactical battle with both teams playing evenly for chances to strike.
Outstanding goal tending was the only thing that kept each team scoreless during that period of time.
The match took a major turn when Evansville enjoyed a penalty kick in the 76th minute. Unfortunately for the Whippets, the kick was converted to tie the game at 1-1.
In the remaining few minutes of the match, Whitewater put on a strong attack, but was not able to break through however, the defense stood strong resulting in the hard fought match ending in a 1-1 draw.
“(I’m) clearly disappointed in a last minute draw,” coach Rene Menager said after the game. “But (I’m) also very proud of the way his team played. In soccer, the better team does not always win.”
Jimmy Cushman was in the net again for Whitewater and had six saves on the night.
Convincing victory
The Whippets built off of the tough outing Tuesday when they played a home game against McFarland last Thursday night. Whitewater found – and kept – its offense, landing a 5-2 victory.
As often is the case between these two teams, the match turned physical and a few players ended up with injuries because of it.
Whitewater’s Jake Riemer led off the scoring in the 13th minute to get the ball rolling. After that, Jacob Haeft increased the Whippet lead to 2-0 on a solid play in front of the net during the 23rd minute.
McFarland got on the board in the 32nd minute, yet it was Mark Cuevas who was able to stave off a comeback bid by converting a penalty kick just minutes later to increase Whitewater’s lead to 3-1.
Xhonatan Shahollari notched two late goals to give the Whippets the final winning margin.
“Tonight, the midfield was able to control the pace of the game and was able to distribute the ball very effectively,” Menager said. “The defensive unit was shaky at times but settled down in the second half.”
