The Brookings boys’ and girls’ soccer teams saw their season come to a close on Saturday night as both teams lost in the opening round of the Class AA State Tournament. The boys fell to Sioux Falls Lincoln 7-0 while the girls fell to Aberdeen Central by a score of 5-0.
BOYS
• Sioux Falls Lincoln 7, Brookings 0
SIOUX FALLS – A quick start by the Patriots led Sioux Falls Lincoln to a decisive victory, but the Bobcats had a positive mindset as they closed the season.
“It’s not the way we wanted to end,” Brookings head coach Steve Binkley said. “Especially with the seniors and they’re such a good group of guys and they’re so hard-working but some nights just aren’t your night and it just didn’t work for us tonight.”
Sioux Falls Lincoln got off to a fast start on the night with Simon Woods scoring on a feed from Ethan Stadheim in the ninth minute to put the Patriots on the board. The lead was expanded in the 14th minute when Tallen Dobson scored on a helper from Rikhav Thakkar to put the Patriots up 2-0 and Falco Gerling scored in the 31st minute to send the Bobcats into halftime down 3-0.
“Once they got that first goal, I think it gave them a lot of confidence,” Brookings head coach Steve Binkley said. “They were just tough on the attack. In terms of our game, it threw us off too. The more we tried to press, the more gaps it creates for their offense.”
The opportunities increased in the second half as Dobson scored his second goal of the game in the 44th minute. With goals from Camden Thomas (58’), Joel Murillo (62’) and Brady Stamp (77’), Lincoln put the final touches on a dominant win.
“At some point, there’s just diminishing returns on how many guys we push up to the attack to try to get one or two [goals] back,” Binkley said. “They just played the game they wanted and it meant that we had to stretch ourselves to try to get opportunities. We didn’t hit any of ours and it left us open for seven goals.”
Brookings had just five shots on the night with four coming from Junior Eberline one coming from Drew Ton, but the Bobcats had plenty to feel positive about at the end of the year. The Bobcats picked up some big wins early in the season over O’Gorman and Aberdeen Central and their Binkley credited their on-field intelligence and work ethic for their performance.
“Those were some really tough teams and those wins felt really good early in the year, but I don’t really think we ever got the momentum off those games that we wanted to feel late in the year,” Binkley said. “Like I said, it’s not the way we wanted to end the year but there’s so much parity within the ESD and the state…on any night, things can change and we just wanted to feel like we could have it be our night but it just felt like every shot Lincoln took, they put it in the back of the net.”
Binkley also went on to credit his senior group of Lucas Wingate, Cole Leisinger, James Park, Drew Ton, Noah Briseno and Trenton Pederson for setting an example for the rest of the team.
“I think we just have really smart captains that really do well in school,” Binkley said. “They have leadership roles within academics and in clubs, so everything theyr’e doing off the field is just a testament to their character. They’re just really phenomenal guys and I can’t say that I’ve had better senior leadership.”
Overall, it was a disappointing ending for the Bobcats, who finished the year with a record of 4-9-1 but Binkley and his team believes that there was a lot to take away from this season.
“It’s hard for the boys but I think that they know they’re a strong soccer team,” Binkley said. “The wins and losses will pale in comparison compared to their experience and when they look back on it in 10 years, I hope they think about their teammates and their friendships and not necessarily how it ended.”
GIRLS
• Aberdeen Central 5, Brookings 0
ABERDEEN – The Bobcats knew they were in for a rough night against an Aberdeen Central team that had a very aggressive strategy. With the Golden Eagles pushing hard for a goal, they got on the scoreboard when Kailyn Poppen scored in the 17th minute.
Poppen broke the seal for Aberdeen Central as they scored three goals over the course of five minutes. Madison Hochstetter made it a 2-0 game on a header off a corner kick in the 18th minute and Poppen scored her second goal of the year four minutes later to send the Golden Eagles into the locker room up 3-0.
“I think we did a good job holding off as much as we could and and they had a lot of shots in there,” Brooking head coach Adam Juba said of the first half. “We had a lot of blocked shots and our defense stood tall for as long as we could.”
The Bobcats kept the Golden Eagles off the board for the first 25 minutes of the second half but Poppen completed the hat trick in the 65th minute before Abigail Witte capped off the scoring in the 69th minute.
“Against a team like that you know you’re going to let in some goals,” Juba said. “It’s how few can you let in and then try to scrap together a couple of your own to try and tie this game.”
The Bobcats couldn’t find their offense however as they managed just three shots on the night with two coming from Desirae Johnson and one from Elise Lefers.
Despite the loss, Juba admired the progress that his team had made throughout the year. He mentioned that a change in formation helped some of his players shine and as the season went on, it allowed his players to relax.
“At the start of the season, it seemed like we played in a panicky manner and as we switched into the formation, it allowed everybody to calm down and breathe a little bit. It allowed us to have a greater passing percentage and it allowed us to move the ball a little better.”
Juba also praised the efforts of his two seniors, midfielder Maddix Archer and goalkeeper Ava Sandine. Archer started every game for the Bobcats since her freshman season and was tenacious at finding ways to score goals.
“The way [Archer] plays is the way she leads,” Juba said. “She doesn’t talk a whole lot to the team but she shows it in the way that she plays and a lot of the players just follow her.”
The same complements were said for Sandine, who made nine saves on Tuesday night.
“Eva is just an absolute presence in the box,” Juba said. “She knew how to just let teams know that she owned that 18-yard box and if someone was going to come in there, they were going to try to have to fight her for the ball.”
Overall, Juba admired the way his team battled through the season and how they competed throughout the year.
“They showed that they can compete with any team we play in the state. I think that was a big improvement from last year in that we struggled to compete and now we showed we are here to compete and we are going to play hard.”
The Bobcats finished the year with a record of 4-9-1.
