This season in KHS boys’ varsity soccer is over. However, it wasn’t just any other year for the program. This season, they went to the state quarterfinals for the first time in program history, improving from four wins last year to a dominating 21 wins this year. 

“We just had the confidence when we stepped on the field that we could not only compete, but beat any team we stepped on the field with,” Joe Fisch, KHS boys’ varsity soccer head coach. “It helped us win all of those games against some of the very good teams such as Webster and CBC.”

 The team’s defense balanced their explosive 82 goal offense by only allowing 32 goals aided by great goalkeeping throughout the season from Max Coronado, junior.” That overall was key for the squad this year in their success.

 “The confidence we had as a team definitely helped my play in goal,” Coronado said. “It helped me as a player during the season as well as the defense being solid around me in goal.” 

The leadership was key for the team this year, especially with great performances from senior Sawyer Hardy with 19 goals this year. He lead the team with this statistic as well as a solid 10 assists for him to go along with that.

“Me and the other seniors did a really great job this year on leading the team,” Hardy said. We created a great unity in the squad.” 

The key part of every good sports team season is a turning point. All of the players and coaches from the team said the turning point was this year’s CYC tournament. 

Assistant Coach (Micheal) Wojtow said, “When we beat teams in that competition like Webster, Lindbergh and CBC, that was evidence to us that we could compete with anybody. That was a big confidence booster to the team during the season.”

When a team does well during a long season, they’ll be bound to have some good moments. That’s exactly what Sawyer Hardy provided against Kirkwood’s rival, Webster, with a booming free kick that gave KHS the lead and the game winning goal in extra time. In a big moment he came up clutch for his team which is what is remembered highly in sports.

 Hardy commented on the goal saying, “As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in. It was a great feeling seeing it hit the back of the net, and even better celebrating with my teammates on such a great moment.”

“Those games mean a lot since it’s in a tournament and it’s a rivalry game, so it was a huge goal,” Wojtow said. “Moments like that can change a season and change a team.”

The head coach Joe Fisch made clear that this season wasn’t a one off. He implied that he wanted to build off of the best season in the program’s history.

“Even coming off a season like that, you always challenge yourself to do better,” Coach Fisch said. “You ask yourself can we go farther? It’s a good challenge for every program and we’re looking forward to another season next year.”