Playing in the opening round of the Class 3 District 2 Boys Soccer Tournament at Rockwood Summit on Saturday, October 29, the season came to an end for Washington High School.
The seventh-seeded Blue Jays (5-17) dropped a 4-0 decision to second-seeded Rockwood Summit.
Summit (16-6) scored two goals in each half to post the win over the Blue Jays.
Washington’s best scoring chance came midway through the first half when senior Cole Click blasted a direct kick from approximately 20 yards out to the upper right corner of the net that looked like was going in, but Summit keeper Griffin Green made a diving save to knock the ball away.
Click’s blast would’ve tied the game, 1-1, had it not been for the save.
The Blue Jays generated other offensive opportunities, but could not capitalize.
The highlight of the season for the soccer Blue Jays was the Hillsboro Tournament in September, where they reached the championship game with wins over Pacific, Hillsboro and Fredericktown, but lost the title contest to Seckman. They also notched victories this season over Sullivan and another one over Pacific.
“We were a very young, inexperienced team this year with only a handful of players with varsity experience and almost half of the team consisting of underclassmen. We had some growing pains earlier in the season and learned from those mistakes later in the season,” said Washington Head Soccer Coach Brian Dougherty. “I am very proud of how to boys worked through the summer and fall season on implementing a different playing style compared to previous years. The GAC is a very difficult conference in boys soccer. All of the teams we play in our division are in the top 25 percent of the teams in Missouri according to the MSHSSCA power rankings. The boys did a good job with battling against several top 20 teams in the state. Our schedule as a whole is very difficult with almost 80 percent of our games against teams with a .500 record or better.
“We battled with a variety of injuries throughout the year and several being key players. The boys continued to push and play hard without us being at full strength through most of the year. Several players switched positions to help fill the needs of the team. Cole Click led us in goals with 11 followed by Will Amlong with five. Chris Jenner and Isaac Eckelkamp both had four goals. Tyler Eckelkamp lead us in assists with nine followed by Elliot Dickman with three. Mason Theis lead us in goal with 106 saves followed by Jack Henderson with 64 and Colin Briggs with 31.”
Photos from Washington’s district match against Rockwood Summit are below.
