On Wednesday, May 10th at Morrison Stadium in Omaha, NE, the Lincoln East and Omaha Westside boys varsity soccer teams battled it out in the first round of the state tournament.

It was an even and rough game throughout the beginning of the first half.  Lincoln East junior captain, John Hansen, had a beautiful header goal off of a free kick by Tyler Hoham, but it was called back, because Hansen was questionably called offsides.  Omaha Westside’s senior captain, Hunter Kruse, also found the back of the net, off of a free kick, in the first half.  His being counted, made the score 1-0.

As the first half went on, Lincoln East found themselves in quite a predicament after sophomore center defender, Zion Osorio, made a run up for a through ball, that unfortunately went to Westside’s goalkeeper, Griffin Trude.  While both players were getting off of the ground, Trude, shoved Osorio’s head right into the ground.  Then, as any player would, Osorio rose up and started getting in Trude’s face.  A nearby Westside player, Kruse, also came over and started yelling at Osorio.  Osorio ended up giving Trude a little shove and Trude flopped to the ground.

The situation ended with Trude getting a yellow card and Osorio receiving two yellow cards, one for sliding cleats up into the box and for shoving Trude, which then added to a red card, eliminating him from the rest of the game.

Since Osorio earned a red card, Lincoln East played down a player for the rest of the game.  With that twist, they ended up changing their four back defensive line to a three back, which can be a tough transformation.

Lincoln East ended up falling to Omaha Westside losing 0-4.  In the second half, Westside’s goals came from Hunter Kruse (his second of the game), Jack Finocchiaro, and Ethan Goldner.

Omaha Westside lost to Creighton Prep 1-0 in the state championship on Monday, May 15th at Morrison Stadium.