Aquinas tops East in Titan Classic final
Playing soccer on a turf football field typically doesn’t give one team an advantage over another.
But the field at Carpenter Stadium has an 8-lap track surrounding it that compresses the field to around 65 yards, about 10 yards narrower than a typical soccer field.
That may not seem like much of a difference, but the St. Thomas Aquinas boys soccer team capitalized fully in its 3-0 victory over East in the Titan Classic blue bracket championship on Saturday afternoon.
Throw-ins that normally would fall well short of the goal suddenly became goal-scoring opportunities every time for a much taller Aquinas team. They would use this advantage throughout, as all three goals were created from set pieces.
“They’re a very smart team,” East senior midfielder Emilio Montanez said. “They’re so tall and well-organized when they do their set pieces. It’s just really hard to defend.”
Aquinas grabbed the lead in the seventh minute, as Luke Kutey scored on a header from a corner kick by Blake Heying.
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| East's Brayan Martinez-Salinas, left, is defended by St. Thomas Aquinas' Michael Velasco on Saturday in the first half of the Titan Classic Blue Bracket final at South. Fernando Salazar/ The Wichita Eagle |
The teams traded barbs in the first half that ended without another goal, as East produced two shots that forced Aquinas keeper Derek Engel to come up with outstanding saves.
Chances of a tie severely diminished for East when Aquinas scored off another set piece, this one from 25 yards out, and another header, this one from Lucas Bartlett, in the 48th minute. Bartlett would score again, on a header, with 15 minutes remaining.
“You can tell (Aquinas) has had a lot of repetition,” East coach Dylan Gruntzel said. “They’ve been doing set pieces that well for a long time. I think without the set pieces, it’s 0-0 right now.”
East held its own in the middle of the field, proving it could hang with the defending Class 5A champion in that regard.
“We came in thinking that East was as good of squad as there is in Wichita,” Aquinas coach Craig Ewing said. “We knew we were going to get a good game from them.”
Losing is never fun, but it could be valuable for an East squad looking to prove its quality has not dropped off after heavy turnover in the starting lineup.
Finishing runner-up in the most competitive bracket of the Titan Classic is not a bad way to start, Gruntzel pointed out.
“We got hit in the mouth and we never gave up,” Gruntzel said. “We’re not used to seeing a team that good, so I was happy with the way we responded and kept competing. I like the effort, and now we’ve got to pick ourselves back up and keep moving forward.”
| Aquinas | 1 | 2 | — | 3 |
| Home | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
First half—Aquinas, Kutey (Heying). Second half—Aquinas, Bartlett (Brown); Aquinas, Bartlett (Brown). Shots—Aquinas 7-7—14, East 3-4—7. Saves—Aquinas, Engle 3-1—4; East, Garcia 3-3—6.
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