Pristine on the pitch for 90 minutes, the No. 4 Neosho County Panthers blanked the visiting No. 9 Johnson County Cavaliers, 2-nil, on Wednesday night in KJCCC men’s soccer action.
While still unbeaten on the year, the Panthers haven’t quite looked like themselves for several weeks. A draw to Allen and a late penalty kick salvaging a win against Pratt were misnomers.
On Wednesday, Neosho County never relinquished control for the full time.
“It’s been a process. We were waiting for it all to click,” Neosho County head coach Elliot Chadderton said. “We showed that we could do it tonight. Now, we’ve got to do it week in and week out. We are everybody’s Champions League final. So if we continue to put the work in, we’ll have no problems.”
Keane Hazeldine netted Neosho County’s first goal late in the first half off of a corner that rebounded in the box.
“The ball came in and as soon as it came out, I knew I wanted to smash it,” Hazeldine said. “I connected with it and it went in.”
Hazeldine then assisted Callum Niven on the second goal in the 80th minute with Johnson County playing a man down.
“Tonight was win or die for us,” Hazeldine said. “We had to come out and get this win in conference. We bought in as a group. The first few weeks, we were getting to know each other. But now, we’re bonded together. We’ve got that winning mentality. That’s what showed today.”
Chadderton praised Hazeldine’s effort on the pitch.
“He was excellent,” Chadderton said. “He’s having a great season. It’s hard to come in and adapt like he has as a freshman. He’s got a great background. But that doesn’t mean it will always translate. But the guy has really bought into the work. When you’ve got the quality that he’s got, it’ll always shine through.”
Johnson County’s Jarrett Pechar drew a red card after inducing his second yellow for arguing with officials, allowing the Panthers to punctuate the win.
Wednesday’s night victory was as complete and thorough as the Panthers have shown since the first week of the campaign.
Panthers keeper Josh Bogan was also brilliant, saving eight shots on goal.
“Some of the goals we’ve conceded early on have come from individual mistakes,” Chadderton said. “This week, we’ve focused on making sure we can get a clean sheet. It wasn’t just our defenders. We defended from the front. The strikers put just as much effort and time in. That got us back on track to not conceding goals. We’ll always score goals. If we can tie it up at the back, we can kick on.”
The three points Neosho County accrued with the victory put the Panthers back in first place in the KJCCC standings.
“We’ve got to play our best every game,” Chadderton said. “That’s how you take care of business. If we just play our game, we’ll play our best against the best teams.”
Up next
For just the second time this year, the Panthers will face an unranked opponent on Saturday. Neosho County, now 5-0-2 overall, takes on Southeast in Nebraska.
“We’ve got to digest this win first, then we’ll look at Southeast,” Chadderton said. “They picked up a good win at Allen this past weekend. It’s not going to be an easy game. It’s going to be a tough one. But if we apply ourselves properly, we won’t have any problems.”
