Woodland come up short in epic match vs Olathe United

In one of the most evenly contested matches in Select League history, 3-0-0 Woodland traveled to Maranatha Christian Academy to take on 3-0-0 Olathe United in an early season tilt with massive implications on the league title, Olathe United gutted out a 1-0 win against the defending champions.

Both teams arrived with some key pieces unable to appear due to injury, or college commitments. These teams are still deep enough to field feral teams with deadly players on either side of the ball.

From the get-go, both teams were feeling the pressure of the stakes at hand in this match. Olathe goalkeeper Khary Hasam fumbled a cross into the box that Pouna almost got a foot onto, Mikkelson and Carson had excellent opportunities in the final third to find a decisive pass, but overhit them.

Brett Jackson had an effort cleared off the line by Olathe centre-back Bilal Olayiwola who had an excellent match.

For every great flick-on by Lancaster (Woodland Man of the Match) and Givler, Olathe United's Rory Stenhouse and Reuben Kester were equal to the test. It was a tight, tense, cagey, tactical affair. The teams went into halftime knotted up at 0-0, a deserving scoreline, all things considered.

The second half was full of opportunites as Woodland continued to press for the go-ahead goal. Olathe made excellent changes at halftime, brining on Noah Conover, Dylan Traudt, Kyan Rice, and Parker Hurla.

Isaac Yang, Edoadro Righetti, Spencer Bone, and Michael Okiring would all sub into this match for Woodland.

Johnthan Young (Woodland Impact Player of the Match) and Steeve Pouna were especially deadly on the Royals' left side of the attack. Young's pace and dribbling asked several questions of the Olathe defence. But it was Olathe who would come up with the answer to this match. Halftime substitute Parker Hurla controlled a pass well to get around Isaac Yang. Yang made a desperation tackle to win the ball, but brought Hurla down inside the penalty box, earning a spot kick for Olathe, and a red card for himself.

Reuben Kester stepped up to the spot and slotted it home for the 1-0 lead with just over 10 minutes to go. Woodland, down a man, continued to press desperately for an equalizer, and were fortunate not to go down by 2 when Max Leiker blazed over the crossbar from close range after some impressive dribbling through the Woodland defense in what was the best chance from open play in the entire match.

Olathe would hold off Woodland for the duration of the match, earning a massive 3-points against their title-chasing rivals, and sole possession of 1st-place in the table after 4 matches. The rematch between these two teams in June has the potential to have a massive say in the title chase. Who comes out on top remains to be seen though with 14 matches to play. All to play for, but for now, advantage Olathe.

Woodland's next match will be Tuesday, April 29th at 6:00PM at Charles J. Stump Memorial Park against 3rd place Southside FC.

You can watch the replay here on the club's youtube channel!

Big thank you to our sponsors!