WICHITA — Pounding Pellissippi State, 3-1, but meandering to Mercer in a 3-nil defeat, the Neosho County Panthers’ stay at the NJCAA Division II Men’s Soccer National Championships came to an end in group play.
“Our sophomores have only lost four games in two years, which takes some doing,” Neosho County head coach Elliot Chadderton said. “We’re Neosho County. We’re not one of the big powerhouses of the junior college association. I’m proud of them. We’ve got to use everything as motivation, now. I’m disappointed because I thought we stood a good chance. But I’m not naive to not realize how special this is. Making a final isn’t easy. It’s a slugfest. We played against the two teams that scored the most goals in the NJCAA in our pool play. I’m proud to say that we made the tournament, and now the work starts for next year.”
Panthers pounce on Pellissippi
Opening Group C play on Monday, the Panthers defeated Pellissippi State, 3-1.
“The biggest thing was our depth,” Chadderton said. “We were able to dig into our bench in the second half and the level didn’t drop. That allowed us to keep pushing and doing the right things. That made a difference. Pellissippi knew they had 45 minutes to save their season. What impressed me was after they equalized, within five minutes, we got a goal back.”
Neosho County wasted little time cracking the egg as Keane Hazeldine buried a goal 25 seconds into the match.
“We had to start sharp, but I didn’t expect it to be that quick,” Chadderton said. “Credit to the guys there. It was the first game of the national tournament and people can be nervous. It’s a lot to take into account. At the end of the day, we didn’t have those nerves.”
In the second half, Pellissippi State equalized on a penalty kick from the boot of Youssef El Hilaa in the 57th minute.
Four minutes later, Danny Carroll put the Panthers back up with a goal. Eight minutes after that, Carroll netted his second goal.
“In big games, he’s always scored goals for us. We know we can rely on him,” Chadderton said. “It showed our strength in our depth.”
Mercer ends Neosho County’s season
The Mercer Vikings, one of three unbeaten teams in the regular season along with Neosho County, advanced to the semifinals by beating the Panthers, 3-nil, on Tuesday.
The Vikings converted on a set piece two minutes into the match with Deniz Karcher converting.
“It was just sloppy,” Chadderton said. “When you don’t win the first, the second or the third ball in your own box, you’re going to concede a goal.”
After a tongue-lashing from Chadderton at halftime, the Panthers spent the first 35 minutes of the second half launching a barrage of attacks in the front third of the pitch.
“In the second half, we should’ve played that way in the first half and we wouldn’t have been in the position we were in,” Chadderton said. “We might have had tired legs. But it was a mentality thing. We let Mercer take the game to us. When you’re behind, you’ll always have to react and do things we didn’t want to do. They defended really well. When you put numbers forward, you either score one or get punished. And we ended up getting punished. We still had four or five chances to score and couldn’t put one in the back of the net.”
Neosho County had a slew of close calls, including a header from Luke Butcher that missed wide right and another point-blank header from Callum Niven that went straight to the keeper.
“It was just one of those days where it wasn’t going to go in the back of the net,” Chadderton said. “We were creating chances. We just didn’t have the quality in the final third.”
As Neosho County pushed men up the field, Mercer finally countered with two goals in four minutes from Nasim Carpio and Jesse Van Den Berge in the 79th and 83rd minutes.
Those two goals put the match out of reach.
Looking ahead
Posting the best two-year stretch of any team sport in school history, Neosho County posted a 15-2-3 overall record and a KJCCC title to its credit.
Over the last two years, Neosho County has won two conference titles, a region and district title, made two national tournaments and finished as national runners-up last year.
In that stretch, Neosho County lost just four times. All four were to top-15 ranked opponents and three came in the postseason.
Neosho County will be tasked with replacing perhaps the most accomplished sophomore class to ever step foot on campus, a group that includes All-KJCCC selections Callum Niven, Luke Butcher, Josh Bogan, Zak ElHannach and Lucas Comitre.
“That’s the good part and the bad part of JUCO soccer,” Chadderton said. “I get to see all these guys move on. It makes me happy to see them kick on and be successful. I’ve got a great relationship with all of them, so it’s tough.”
Plugging holes on the front and back thirds of the pitch is Chadderton’s priority in the offseason.
“We’ll need to get some goal scorers and center backs, but we’ve got quality freshmen that didn’t get a chance,” Chadderton said. “We’ve got guys within the program that can step up with a year’s experience. That’s the fun part, now. I get to figure out what we need and we’ll figure that out over the next couple of months.”
TOP: Yuki Suzuki of the Neosho County Panthers battles for possession during the Panthers’ first game of the NJCAA Division II Men’s Soccer National Championships against Pellissippi State on Monday in Wichita. ABOVE: Callum Niven of the Neosho County Panthers puts his face into hands in despair of a point-blank header went straight to the Mercer keeper on Tuesday in a 3-nil loss to Mercer in group play of the NJCAA Division II Men’s Soccer National Championships in Wichita. Sean Frye | Tribune photos
