The Pioneers played against the state runner-up, Danville Little Johns, on Friday, April 22nd. The Pioneers needed this win to still have a good change getting into the state tournament. It was a really intense first half. There were some physical plays on the field from both teams. The Pioneers had a couple of shots that were on target, but they couldn’t slip past the goalie. The Little Johns were quick and were really good with their touches on the ball. They had a couple of shots, but junior goalie Kelsey James was able to stop them. With about 20 minutes still left in the first half, the Little Johns were able to break the Pioneer’s defense and chip a shot right past James into the goal.

Sophomore Kevin Ochoa attempts to score for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers were frustrated after the shot and weren’t getting their way on the field. The Pioneers were playing hard throughout the first half. They were able to get a free kick from about 20 yards out from the goal. Sophomore forward Kevin Ochoa took the free kick and the ball was placed a little high and skid the crossbar. For the remaining of the first half, the Pioneers were able to stop some goals from being scored and headed into halftime only down 1-0.

“We knew we weren’t playing so well that first half. We just need a confidence booster in the second half. We all knew what was going to happen if we lost this game. We just have to stay in together and play this second half like it’s our last,” said senior defender Austin Fowler.

The start of the second half went well for the Pioneers. The team got some shots on target and were stopping the Little Johns from getting near the goal. With about 10 minutes into the second half, the Pioneers were able to get a corner kick. Junior right wing Braxton Gunneman placed the ball perfectly right to senior center middle Jared Rabb; Rabb kicked the ball and went past the goalie crossing the goal line counting as a goal.

The Pioneers knew it was crunch time. They wanted this win. They played with heart after the goal. Until about 10 minutes left, freshman defender Jason Gomez had a handball inside the goalie box. The Little Johns had a penalty kick. When the Little Johns kicked the penalty kick, James dove the right way and only missed the ball by a few inches. The Pioneers were down 2-1 with about 8 minutes left.

The Pioneers fought hard and had another chance at scoring, but couldn’t connect with the goal. The Pioneers took a miserable loss to the Little Johns, 2-1. This officially took the Pioneers out of the state tournament. This makes the Pioneer’s conference record 3-5.

“Win or lose I love this team. Things didn’t go the way we wanted this season, but there is always next season. We just need to play this season out still like a team. It wasn’t the referees or that the other team was better than us, it was us making minor mistakes leading into big losses. We will learn how to fix those mistakes and get ready for next season,” said Gunneman after the loss.

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