Going into the game, the Huskies were coming off several quality games, going without a loss since their loss to Rockhurst in late September. The first minutes of the game yielded no points for either team until there were seven minutes remaining in the first half, when the Huskies allowed the first goal.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, four unanswered goals were allowed, with three in the second half. Head coach Brian Pollack said the objective coming into the second half was to match his team’s performance in the first minutes of the game.

“The change of plan [in the second half] was to do what we did in the first 10 minutes, which was to insert pressure and attack the wings,” Pollack said. 

Coming off the loss, junior Andrew Mitchell attributed the team’s performance to their inability to go on offense, which gave Mitchell and the other forwards few opportunities to score the ball throughout the game.

“We just really weren’t attacking,” Mitchell said. “We just couldn’t keep the ball and that led to no moving forward at all.”

Partly due to the frustration over several calls against Blue Valley Northwest in the second half and the Huskies’ inability to get an offensive push, the Tigers were able to expand their lead. With Lee’s Summit scoring their last three goals within the last 33 minutes of the game, Mitchell attributed that result to the second goal being discouraging to the team. 

“We were supposed to go out and play our game, but our mindset was just not there today,” Mitchell said. “It was deflating when that second goal went in and we just fell apart from there.”

Similarly, senior Charlie Rauter shared Mitchell’s frustration in the second half. He said that the calls made in the game, such as the red card given to Rauter in the second half, were huge factors in the game.

Despite the second half miscues, Mitchell, Pollack, and Rauter were able to point out positives in the game. Rauter recognized that there were not very many positives with their game on Wednesday, but he said the biggest positive was staying together even with all the obstacles that took place.

“One [positive] would be sticking together regardless of the adversity we faced,” Rauter said. “We’re gonna come back stronger.”

Pollack said, regardless of the outcome, the Huskies rose to the occasion and accepted every challenge that the game provided them. He acknowledged the competition was bigger than the team in the game.

“I think that we battled all game against an extremely talented and physical opponent, we stepped up to every challenge,” Pollack said. “Great teams punish good teams; they were the better team tonight.”

The varsity soccer team’s next performance is against Bishop Miege scheduled for Thursday, October 8 at Bishop Miege.