Rock Bridge Soccer 2011

Experience bolsters this season's Rock Bridge boys soccer team

2011-08-30T11:26:00.001-05:00

by Nicholas Sullivan

COLUMBIA — “Win state.” That was the answer every senior on the Rock Bridge soccer team gave when asked to name a team goal.

A year after losing in the Class 3 state semifinals and finishing in a tie for third place, the Bruins are hungry to return to Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in Fenton and bring home a state title. Whether or not they have the talent is unknown; whether they have experience has already been answered.

Fourth-year head coach Kyle Austin said he thinks this year’s team can build off of last year’s success.

“We lost a couple of key players, but we should still be successful,” Austin said. “We have a lot of senior experience. A lot of varsity experience for that matter. I think we only added one guy that didn’t get to play at least a couple of games at the varsity level last year.”

Loaded with 11 seniors and a roster full of players that contributed to last year’s successful postseason run, the Bruins boast one of the most experienced teams in the state.

Despite the return of several key players from last year’s team, captains Brady Wulff, Danny Baird and Ryan Taylor will be missed, Austin said. Wulff and Baird, who are now playing for Columbia College, were both All-State selections.

Overall, the Rock Bridge team lost seven seniors, four of whom were starters, but returns most of its goal-scorers and its entire defensive back line. The Bruins' top four goal-scorers from a season ago — Matt Kelly (27), Ryan Schmidt (9), Tyler Griggs (7) and Eli Sherman (5) – are returning this year.

Kelly, who led the team in goals and assists a season ago, is one of three player-elected captains, along with fellow seniors Sam Stoeckl and Kory McDonald. Stoeckl, McDonald and senior Tyler Brittain make up the starting back line.

“The team is very offensively dangerous, because all of our offensive players are well experienced in varsity play,” Kelly said.

Probably the biggest question mark heading into the season is who will be playing a majority of the minutes in goal for the Bruins with the departure of Wulff.

Senior Andres Bare was scheduled to get the start in the season opener Saturday at Rockhurst, but Alex Nichols, the assistant coach in charge of goalkeepers, made it clear that both back-up goalies, senior Jonas Gassman and sophomore Greg Kelly, will still see significant playing time this year.

“I feel like we have three of the top goalies in the state," Nichols said. "It probably sounds a bit arrogant, but I truly believe it.”

Taylor a unique leader for Rock Bridge soccer team

2010-11-09T13:06:00.000-06:00

By Blair Weaver
November 8, 2010 | 7:14 p.m. CST

COLUMBIA – Rock Bridge boys soccer coach Kyle Austin says one of his favorite memories of senior captain Ryan Taylor was when Taylor dressed as an American patriot for school one day.

“I came out to practice and he’s sitting there warming the team up in his Thomas Jefferson outfit,” Austin said. “It’s things like that that make him the icon of the team. He’s always the one fully decked out and leading the team through everything.”

According to Austin, Taylor’s leadership is what sets him apart from the rest of his teammates.

“He has this ability to lead people, which is a quality that a lot of people don’t have, and he intrinsically has it. People are naturally drawn to him, he is very charismatic and when he talks people listen,” Austin said. “Every teams needs a player like that and Ryan is that player.”

Taylor's leadership shows up in various ways. On the soccer field he is always full of energy whether he is on the field or on the sideline, and he is also one of the creators of the team slogan “Boomtown.” But his biggest contribution might be the humor he brings to the team. Austin says Taylor is “always in costume.”

“The team is full of personalities. But if you have to define one personality, it’s Ryan Taylor,” Austin said. “He’s the one who organizes everything, like what they wear to school the next day. But he’s the one who will take it to the extreme.”

The team dresses up at school for home games, but Taylor and fellow senior captain Brady Wulff decided to add in a twist for away games, creating a theme for the team. While some of the players might only wear one or two things, Taylor can be found completely decked out.

“Some of our themes have been cowboy theme, ‘Guido’ theme, where we all gelled our hair, one day we all wore really weird things like suspenders and bow ties and Wednesday was ‘dress like the coaches day,'” Taylor said. “We create the ideas to inspire.”

Taylor also played a big role in developing the nicknames that the players use for each other. Jonathan Gunter, one of the more reserved players on the team is called “Big Crazy.” Danny Baird is the self-proclaimed “Rock," and Matt Kelly calls Taylor “Boomtown." Ryan Stanowski is nicknamed “Stank,” and Brady Wulff is known as “Big Bad," as in “Big Bad Wulff."

“They were a team effort, a collaboration that we agreed upon,” Taylor said.

Taylor missed several games at the start of the season with a broken toe.

“It was tough for him as a senior knowing it’s his last season to play," Austin said. "But he’s always into it. He’s kind of an assistant coach for me, someone I can tell what to do and he pulls the guys together, instructs them like a coach would. He always gives 100 percent on the field and leads more through example than vocal ability. He’s always the first one to practice and knows when it’s time to have fun and when it’s time to focus.”

Taylor said his relationship with Austin has grown every year since he first met Austin as a sophomore.

“I really respect him. Now, this year I know him a lot more than just a coach, and since I’m his teacher’s assistant, I get to see him every day,” Taylor said.

Both Taylor and Austin agreed that their favorite part of the season so far was winning the district championship last Wednesday. The game went into overtime penalty kicks, Taylor making one of the decisive scores.

“When Taylor hit the PK, he had a look over exuberance on his face, like they were able to accomplish this task they set forth in the beginning of August,” Austin said. “Seeing him as happy and excited and not being able to contain himself was rewarding as a coach. He deserved it so much as did the other seniors.”

Bruins prevail in PKs

2010-11-09T13:02:00.000-06:00

Rock Bridge tops Jeff City for title.
By Nick Snow Columbia Daily Tribune
Thursday, November 4, 2010

SEDALIA — After losing to Jefferson City on penalty kicks earlier in the year, the Rock Bridge soccer team committed itself to working harder on penalty kicks in practice.

All that hard work paid off in a big way. Rock Bridge went 6 for 6 in penalty kicks, capped off by sophomore Ryan Stanowski’s laser into the back of the net that sealed a 6-5 PK victory over Jefferson City in the Class 3 District 9 championship game, which was scoreless after overtime. The victory gives the Bruins their first district title since 2004.

“It’s always nice to avenge one of your season losses,” Rock Bridge Coach Kyle Austin said. “Words cannot describe how happy I am for these kids. This was all for them. They deserved this victory. They’re all unbelievable kids, not only on the soccer field, but also in the community and in the classroom. To get this kind of reward is just awesome.

“These kids remembered how it felt to lose after being the top seed last year, and they just weren’t going to let it happen again. They fought for 110 minutes and built off their experiences from last season.”

Rock Bridge (22-5) controlled the ball for most of the match, nearly scoring 10 minutes into the first half. But Tyler Griggs’ goal was waved off after the officials ruled that Jefferson City goalkeeper C.J. Loehner had possession. Although the Bruins had the wind at their back for the first half, the Jays suffocated them on defense to keep the game scoreless.

Things got a little more chippy in the second half as Rock Bridge picked up a pair of yellow cards and Jefferson City received one of its own. The Jays controlled the ball a little more in the second half, but Rock Bridge goalkeeper Brady Wulff and the defense kept Jefferson City scoreless.

Wulff came up with a huge stop against Nicholas Anglen in the second overtime to keep hope alive for the Bruins. Loehner matched Wulff by hauling in a hard shot from Ryan Schmidt with just more than five minutes remaining in the second overtime.

In the first set of penalty kicks, both teams hit all five shots, as Jonathan Gunter, Matt Kelly, Trevor Davis, Ryan Taylor and Danny Baird all scored for the Bruins, while Anglen, Tanner Bone, Tyler Luebbert, Dylan Braunder and Claude Ruboneka scored for Jefferson City.

Jefferson City freshman Aaron Crane’s shot sailed high, putting the pressure on Stanowski. With a deep breath, Stanowski uncorked a shot toward the left side of the net for the game-winner.

“We set the tone by having a 12:01 a.m. practice that first day, so we have been really determined to win a district championship all season,” said Wulff, who is one of the Rock Bridge captains. “It feels good.”

Rock Bridge will face another familiar opponent, Rolla, in a Class 3 sectional Tuesday in Rolla. The Bruins won the regular-season meeting 1-0.

“We’re hoping to use this as a great learning experience,” Austin said. “This is a young group that bonded quickly. It’s going to be tough to top 22 wins, but we’re not done yet. We’re still adding to that total. By the time the season ends, I’d like to be around 25 or 26 wins.”

Rock Bridge advances to district soccer final

2010-11-02T10:05:00.000-05:00

By Missourian staff
November 1, 2010 | 10:23 p.m. CDT

The Rock Bridge boys soccer team defeated host Smith Cotton 2-0 Monday night in the semifinals of the Class 3, District 9 tournament in Sedalia.

Senior Danny Baird scored in the first half off an assist by senior Jon Gunter. Junior Matt Kelly sent in another goal in the second half off an assist by senior Trevor Davis.

Fourth-seeded Smith-Cotton (14-12) had advanced to the semifinal against top-seeded Rock Bridge (20-4) by beating fifth seed Washington on Saturday.

Second seed Hickman lost 1-0 to third seed Jefferson City in the late semifinal on Monday to end its season at 17-6-2 and prevent a district final showdown against the rival Bruins.

Rock Bridge is set to play Jefferson City (14-6-1) in the district finals at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Sedalia.

October 29th Class 3 State Rankings

2010-11-01T12:20:00.002-05:00

1.) Chaminade
2.) SLUH
3.) CBC
4.) Park Hill
5.) Rockhurst
6.) Desmet
7.) Lafayette
8.) Oakville
9.) Vianney
10.)Kickapoo
11.)Howell North
12.)Rock Bridge
13.)Lee's Summit North
14.)Lee's Summit
15.)Carthage

District Information

2010-10-28T12:13:00.002-05:00

Below is the schedule for the district soccer tournament. You can find the bracket on the MSHSAA website.

Saturday, October 30
#4 Smith-Cotton vs. #5 Washington 1:00
Officials: Ed Hancock, Mike Marcum, Roger House

Monday, November 1
#1 Rock Bridge vs. Smith-Cotton/Washington Winner 5:00
#2 Hickman vs. #3 Jefferson City 7:00
Officials: Tim Thompson, Dan Page, and Ed Hancock

Wednesday, November 3
District Championship 6:00
Officials: Mike Marcum, Andy Mckee, and Dan Page

Gunter's goal sends Rock Bridge soccer team to decisive win

2010-10-28T12:09:00.002-05:00

By Blair Weaver
October 27, 2010 | 11:12 p.m. CDT

COLUMBIA — Senior Jonathan Gunter had just what it took to break the lull.

In the Rock Bridge boys soccer team's 3-0 win against visiting Whitfield on Wednesday night, Gunter was responsible for the second goal, giving the Bruins firm control of the outcome.

Forty minutes after Matt Kelly sent in a penalty kick for the Bruins in the 36th minute, the game remained close. After possessing the ball for the majority of the game, Rock Bridge couldn't find a way to score again in the second half. It was as if the Bruins were hypnotizing their opponents, trying to catch them on the back of their heels.

But with six minutes left in the game, Gunter, a forward, launched a shot from about 45 yards out, catching everyone off guard. The ball sailed into the back of the net.

“I was actually just crossing the ball,” Gunter said. “I didn’t even mean to shoot it.”

Gunter’s hands flew in the air, and everyone cheered with excitement, patting him on the back, surprised and excited his “pass” went in.

“I couldn’t believe it — that explains why my hands went in the air,” Gunter said.

Rock Bridge coach Kyle Austin said, “I’m very proud of him. There are no bad shots, he was just testing the goalie. I told them to shoot the ball and he listened to me. It was a great goal for our last (regular season) game, and no one deserves it more.”

Defender Tyler Brittain scored the Bruins' third goal with 27 seconds left to play.

Gunter, whose goal was his third of the season, said he thought the Bruins “dominated” the game.

“We possessed it well and were able to do what we wanted," Gunter said. "It was a good way to end the (regular) season.”

Austin seemed more than pleased with how the regular season has gone and described it as “surreal.”

“We came in losing 12 seniors — we’re a very young team,” Austin said. “I thought it would take us most of the season to come together, but we’ve been on eight- and 10-game winning streaks, and things have really fallen into place. We’re 20-5, and the kids deserve so much credit.”

The Bruins start district play at 5 p.m. Monday in Sedalia.

2010 Class 3 District 10 District Seeds

2010-10-21T21:10:00.000-05:00

1.) Rock Bridge
2.) Hickman
3.) Jefferson City
4.) Sedalia Smith Cotton
5.) Washington

All Games will be played at Sedalia Smith Cotton's home field.

2010 Boys State Soccer Polls - Class 3 (October 15)

2010-10-18T09:35:00.002-05:00

1.) SLUH
2.) CBC
3.) Chaminade
4.) Rockhurst
5.) Oakville
6.) Park Hill
7.) DeSmet
8.) Lee's Summit
9.) Eureka
10.)Lafayette
11.)Vianney
12.)Rock Bridge
13.)Park Hill South
14.)Jefferson City
15.)Lee's Summit North

Rock Bridge soccer team thinking about districts

2010-10-18T09:33:00.002-05:00

By Blair Weaver
October 14, 2010 | 11:01 p.m. CDT

COLUMBIA - As the season starts to dwindle, the Rock Bridge boys soccer team begins to shift their focus on to district play.

After Thursday’s game against Waynesville, the Bruins only have three games left in the regular season, including next week’s big game against Jefferson City. Rock Bridge defeated Waynesville 4-0, with goals by juniors Austin Powell, Matt Kelly and Kory McDonald, and sophomore Tyler Bales. Bales is Rock Bridge’s junior varsity leading scorer but was pulled up to play varsity from last weekend’s tournament. In goal, Brady Wulff and Jonas Gassman, for the last 12 minutes, were responsible for the shutout.

With a season record of 18-4, expectations are set high for upcoming district play.

“All we want to do is just come out and win. We’re going to continue the way we’ve been playing and we’re going to try to push every game,” head coach Kyle Austin said.

Last year, the Bruins got as far as the district semifinals. They battled against rival Hickman but came up short 1-0. This year, it’s about getting that bad taste out of their mouth from last year and doing what needs to be done to advance even farther this year. With districts just a couple weeks away, the thought of it is no longer just in the back of their minds and preparations are now in action.

“We’ve really been trying to focus on our defense. We’re trying to find ways we can slow the game down and really work on set pieces,” Austin said. “We’re trying to get a lot of players more experience in games instead of just relying on 12 players. Instead, we’re about 17 or 18 deep.”

As of October 1, Rock Bridge is ranked 13th in the state, just two above Hickman.

“It’s nice to be recognized, but I told my team that it means very little, as long as we’re winning,” Austin said. “I’d much rather have a state title than a state rank.”

The Bruins’ next game at Jefferson City on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Rock Bridge soccer earns shutout in win over Kewps

2010-10-14T12:21:00.002-05:00

By Nick Snow
Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Coach Kyle Austin said his Rock Bridge boys soccer team didn’t play its best.

That’s a little hard to believe, considering the Bruins (17-4) had just beaten Hickman 4-0 on Sells Field to sweep the regular-season series.

“It feels good to beat them,” Rock Bridge midfielder Ty Griggs said. “I play with a lot of those guys on a club team, so this gives me a chance to represent my school. There’s always a little bit of a rivalry, but that’s what makes it fun. We enjoy beating Hickman.”

Hickman (15-5-1) flexed its muscle early, attacking with a fury over the first 10 minutes. But the Bruins weathered the storm with a couple of great saves by Brady Wulff.

“Brady is our senior captain for a reason,” Austin said. “Not only is he very vocal, he leads by his play. Any time we have him back there, we know its going to take the other team’s best effort to win. He’s playing at another level, and I know assistant coach Alex Nichols — who works with him in practice — has been very impressed with the way he has played.”

After getting stuffed by Hickman goalkeeper Chuck Wilson earlier in the half, Matt Kelly got Rock Bridge started by blasting a free kick into the upper right corner.

The Kewpies had a couple of chances late — including a shot through the box by Andy Atkins — but with 8 seconds left, Eli Sherman found Kelly for a breakaway to give Rock Bridge a 2-0 halftime lead.

“That was a huge goal at the time,” Austin said. “It was a great job by Eli, and it allowed Matt to slide into position. That goal really changed the game. We were able to take that and build on that momentum at halftime.”

Wilson couldn’t haul in a bouncer in traffic with 33:38 left in the game. From there, Rock Bridge’s Ryan Taylor was in the right place at the right time, knocking the ball into the net on the rebound.

“We’ve been flopping back and forth between Spencer Mills and Chuck all year,” Hickman Coach Adam Taylor said. “Tonight, it was Chuck’s turn. He’s a senior, so I wanted to give him one more chance to beat Rock Bridge.”

The Bruins tacked on one more with 15 minutes left. With several defenders on him, Griggs took a shot while falling down. Somehow, the ball squirted through the defense and into the net.

“Eli Sherman worked hard to get the ball to Trevor Davis,” Griggs said. “Trevor gave me a great pass, and I just took a shot and hoped for the best. We know that Hickman is going to come back hard if we see them in districts. We just have to keep looking forward.”

Rock Bridge will host Waynesville tomorrow, while Hickman will travel to Lincoln Prep tomorrow.

“We’ve got to go back to work,” Taylor said. “We’ve got about a week and a half before districts start. We really didn’t play that bad. Hopefully, this will make us more intense for the rest of the season. We know that now is the time to push ourselves.”

Rock Bridge and Hickman soccer players friends and competitors

2010-10-14T12:19:00.002-05:00

By Blair Weaver
October 12, 2010 | 11:25 p.m. CDT

COLUMBIA — The players on the Hickman and Rock Bridge boys soccer teams are competitors on the field, but are close friends off the field.

Rock Bridge seniors Brady Wulff, Ryan Taylor and Danny Baird have been close friends with Hickman's Andy Atkins, Colin Janicek and Alex Holliday for about five or six years. They all play on the Columbia Pride, a club team in Columbia.

“It’s a lot different playing against them,” Taylor said. "I have a lot of respect for them on and off the field. I have to get it out of my mind that we’re friends when we play against each other."

They talk to each other a little on the field, but for the 80-minutes of the game, the focus is on bringing their school a win. Rock Bridge prevailed Tuesday night securing a 4-0 victory over visiting Hickman. Matt Kelly had two first-half goals for the Bruins, while Taylor and Ty Griggs scored in the second half.

“It’s a pain playing against them. They’re great guys to play with, but when you play against them, you know that they’re going to give 100 percent,” Atkins said. “We all go hard, it’s the same intensity, but I’m more cordial to them than any other player. It’s definitely nice to talk to them before and after the game though.”

The players know the ins and outs of how the others play, which works to their advantage both as teammates and as opponents. No one is just another player. They are players that they’ve cheered on, encouraged and traveled to out-of-town tournaments with.

“It’s definitely more competitive on the field against them. Once the season is over, there’s always bragging going on about who won during the season,” Taylor said. “It’s business on the field, but jokes off the field.”

Injury doesn't slow down Rock Bridge goalkeeper Brady Wulff

2010-10-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

By Blair Weaver
October 9, 2010 | 7:53 p.m. CDT

COLUMBIA — Brady Wulff, a senior goalkeeper for the Rock Bridge soccer team, doesn’t let anything get in the way of success. Not even a metal rod in his leg.

The summer before Wulff’s sophomore year, he was playing in the USA Cup for an under-18 club team as a 15-year-old. His team was playing against Sweden in the U-19 division. Wulff was in goal, and in the second half went out in a one-on-one situation against a much bigger player, resulting in an injury that would keep him out for the entire upcoming season.

“I’ve never broken a bone before,” Wulff said. "At first all I felt was overwhelming pain, and I figured it was broken. But after the pain died down, all I could think about was how I will probably have to sit out the whole season and watch from the bench."

Since it was such a bad break, Wulff had to get a metal rod put in his leg to prevent him from breaking the bone again. The rod is about the length of his shin.

“I can get the rod taken out at any time, but I plan on playing soccer till I die, so I don’t see any point in taking it out,” Wulff said. "So I’ll probably leave it in forever.”

Wulff said he can feel the rod sometimes if he tweaks his ankle. He also has to carry a special card from his doctor when travels because the rod will set off metal detectors at airports.

After playing goalkeeper for the Bruins' C team and junior varsity as a freshman, there were high hopes for Wulff for his sophomore year. Until he got injured.

“He was in line to at least vie for the starting varsity goalkeeping position, or at least going to be our starter,” Rock Bridge coach Kyle Austin said. “I know it was devastating to him because he worked hard all summer to get back for his sophomore year.”

Because of the broken bone, Wulff was kept out, but he said the constant support from family, teammates and coaches kept him going. Although he couldn’t participate on the field, Wulff was still an involved member of the team, attending every practice and acting as team manager.

Wulff came back motivated for his junior year and earned All-District and All-Region honors.

“He struggled at times, especially early on,” Austin said. “He had to adjust to the speed of the game, let in a few goals that at this point I would never expect to be let in, but as the season got going, he kept getting stronger and stronger and was playing at his best, if not the best goalie in the area.”

Wulff said he had few doubts about getting back on the field once he was allowed to play.

“Soccer is my life, and there is no way I was going to let an injury stop me,” Wulff said. “At one point I was told I might not be able to play again, but we kept working it, and I got cleared to play in January.”

For Wulff, the biggest obstacle was getting his confidence back. He said he found he was second-guessing himself early on.

“My biggest motivation was getting back on the horse. Soccer is such a big part of my life, and it really ate me up that I couldn’t play. I felt like I let my team down,” Wulff said. “My injury still restricts me, but it’s made me more of an aggressive player. I now have the mentality of knowing that I could get hurt any time, and I never know when my last game can be.”

Wulff seems to be having an even more successful season as a senior.

“Brady makes every single save you expect any goalie to make, then he also makes those one or two special saves that are a sign of a great goalkeeper,” Austin said. “He takes pride in everything he does and is such a perfectionist that sometimes you have to remind him that he is a goalie and every once in a while a goal will go in.”

Seniors keep Rock Bridge soccer team laughing

2010-10-05T23:26:00.000-05:00

By Blair Weaver
October 5, 2010 | 10:14 p.m. CDT

COLUMBIA — The Rock Bridge boys soccer team’s seven seniors have managed to balance a winning record of 13-4 while thoroughly enjoying themselves this season.

Rock Bridge defeated Helias 4-2 in overtime penalty kicks Tuesday evening at Rock Bridge. The suspense-filled victory made senior night that much better.

Rock Bridge coach Kyle Austin said he is so close to this group of players that next year will be different without them.

“They’re just a goofy group of boys. They’re a real 'have fun' group off the field but have the ability to intensely focus on the field,” Austin said. “They’re the most fun group I’ve ever coached. They’re very comfortable with who they are.”

The seven seniors include Trevor Davis, Amin El Darrat, Jonathon Gunter, Patrick Knutson, and three captains, Danny Baird, Ryan Taylor and goalkeeper Brady Wulff.

“What I’ll miss most about this group is their attitude,” Austin said. “I’ll miss all of their little pranks, the ‘Boomtown’ chants and their joking around off the field.”

From Brady Wulff and Ryan Taylor wearing a cowboy hats and chewing straw in their mouths at school, to Wulff coming into senior night wearing a ski mask, the seniors have always seemed to enjoy themselves and keep the coaches laughing.

From practical jokes on bus rides to joking around at practices, Austin says his team won’t be quite the same next year.

“They all get along so well. They’re all such wholesome kids and come from great families,” Austin said. “Everyone at school loves them; every teacher loves them. They have such a natural draw to them.”

Austin laughed and pointed to the back of the senior night handout to a picture of shirtless boys with ‘Boomtown’ painted on their chests, doing funny poses in the net.

“This pretty much sums them up,” Austin said. “You can’t say they haven’t had fun this year because that’s all that they’ve had."

October 1st Class 3 State Rankings

2010-10-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

1.) Rockhurst (5)
2.) SLUH (2)
3.) Chaminade
4.) CBC
5.) Lee's Summit
6.) Oakville
7.) Eureka
8.) DeSmet
9.) Park Hill South
10.)Vianney
11.)Lafayette
12.)Park Hill
13.)Rock Bridge
14.)Lee's Summit North
15.)Hickman

Bruins' hard work results in fortunate goal

2010-09-30T14:46:00.000-05:00

By Steve Walentik
Thursday, September 30, 2010

It would have been easy think the Hickman boys soccer team unlucky after a seemingly innocent shot squirted through the hands of goalkeeper Chuck Wilson and trickled across the goal line.

But the match itself was actually more heavily skewed in Rock Bridge’s favor.

“They did everything that they wanted to do tonight,” Kewpies Coach Adam Taylor said. “I thought they played extremely well. … We got beat in every aspect of the game, bottom line. Anyone who watched this game — even if you don’t know much about soccer — could see they just basically beat us, and it started in the middle of the field. They hammered us there early, often and all night.”

Taylor’s coaching counterpart, Kyle Austin, actually thought his Bruins began the night a little shaky, perhaps evidence of some nerves that came with facing their crosstown rivals for the first time since they ended Rock Bridge’s season in last year’s district semifinal. The match wasn’t 12 minutes old when Hickman senior Andy Atkins got loose on the right wing after McDonald misplayed a cross. Senior goalkeeper Brady Wulff charged hard off his line to challenge the upcoming shot, and Atkins fired high over the goal.

That would be the best opportunity the Kewpies (8-3-1) had, as the Bruins (10-4) settled down soon after. They began to possess the ball and mounted one attack after another into Hickman’s end of the field. Only a few produced quality scoring opportunities in the first half, but they kept Taylor’s team on the defensive, and Wilson had to come up with six saves just to keep the match scoreless at intermission.

Rock Bridge kept pressing in the second half. Junior Matt Kelly pounced on the ball after Eric Pekkala gave it away deep in Hickman territory and nearly notched his 15th goal of the season in the 47th minute.

It was about two minutes after Kelly’s chance that McDonald left the field with a bloody nose after catching an inadvertent elbow. With cotton plugging his right nostril, he returned just in time to deliver the biggest strike of the night with 27:59 left on the clock.

Atkins and Ryan Schmidt were battling for a loose ball when the ball rolled back toward McDonald, pinching in from the backline.

“It just found me,” said the junior, who quickly settled it some 30 yards from the goal. “I just decided to take a shot from out — just pepper the goalie. I hit it well. I didn’t hit it in a great spot, but it just found the net.”

First, the ball passed over traffic in front and through the hands Wilson, who seemed to be handcuffed by the spinning orb.

“My assistant coach,” Alex Nichols, “and I have preached to them all season, there’s no such thing as a bad shot,” Austin said. “Things can happen — it takes a deflection, something happens like with Kory’s shot tonight. … It wasn’t the prettiest of goals, but I tell them it doesn’t have to be pretty. It still counts on the score sheet the same.”

Rather than awaken Hickman’s attack, McDonald’s goal actually seemed to open up the field so that Rock Bridge could generate even more opportunities.

The Kewpies did manage a few scoring chances of their own while countering the Bruins’ advances over the final 28 minutes, but none really tested Wulff, who never had to leave his feet while making five saves.

Wulff might have preferred some more work, but Austin wasn’t complaining.

“If Brady never gets dirty, it’s a good game for us,” the coach said. “We have a solid keeper. I honestly believe he’s the best keeper here in Mid-Missouri. I tell our defense, ‘Let’s let him just sit back there and read a book.’ On nights like tonight, he was there. He’s a presence back there, but he didn’t have to come up with any huge saves. But there’ll be a point in the season, and we have faith in him that he’s going to make that save.”

Austin would like his Bruins to capitalize on a few more opportunities at the other end so that every save isn’t so important, but Hickman’s backline did a good job withstanding their pressure last night.

“Give credit to our guys. For as well as they played, we kept in it, we fought all night, and we only lost by a goal and goal that really we maybe could have got back somehow,” said Taylor, whose team hadn’t been challenged nearly as much while outscoring its opponents 20-0 during a three-game winning streak. “It’s early in the season still. We’ve still got plenty of time to work, and hopefully, this will put our guys back to work.”

Rock Bridge's narrow soccer victory no surprise against Hickman

2010-09-30T13:41:00.000-05:00

BY Blair Weaver
COLUMBIA — With a crosstown rivalry, it’s not just your ordinary mid-season game, it goes much deeper than that.

“There’s just a different feel of the game, it feels just like a state game,” Rock Bridge boys soccer coach Kyle Austin said. "The kids get so over-hyped that I have to calm them down.”

The crowd gets sufficiently larger. The feel of the game just isn’t quite the same. Emotions come into play, and with two high schools in the same town, your rivals aren’t always complete strangers.

“There are a lot of emotions. You have to learn how to suppress them and I don’t think we did that tonight,” Hickman coach Adam Taylor said. “But besides the rivalry, it’s still the same game. Eleven players, one ball.”

The Bruins defeated the Kewpies 1-0 Wednesday night at Hickman’s Robert M. LeMone Field. Rock Bridge junior Kory McDonald scored the lone goal in the second half. After having two assists this season, McDonald, a defender, scored his first goal Wednesday from about 30 yards out, the ball spinning right through the Hickman keeper’s hands.

The close game was not a surprise with Rock Bridge (10-4) and Hickman (8-3-1) boasting similar records.

“With games like these, the final score is expected to be 1-0, and that’s exactly what happened,” Austin said.

Sept 20th Class 3 Boys Soccer Rankings

2010-09-28T10:10:00.001-05:00

Team
1.) Rockhurst (5)
2.) Chaminade (2)
3.) SLUH
4.) CBC
5.) Eureka
6.) Lafayette
7.) Lee's Summit
7.) DeSmet
9.) Rockwood Summit
10.)Rock Bridge
11.)Blue Springs
12.)Vianney
13.)Park Hill
14.)Jackson
15.)Carthage

Rock Bridge's Matt Kelly bounces back to lead team

2010-09-28T09:55:00.001-05:00

By Blair Weaver

COLUMBIA — Junior Matt Kelly made the junior varsity soccer team his freshmen year. But half way into the season, head coach Kyle Austin bumped him up to varsity.

“I was really nervous since I was the only freshman, “ Kelly said. “I was thrown into the mix, but I learned to fight.”

Kelly has had his ups and downs with Rock Bridge soccer since, but he now is the varsity team’s leading scorer.

He scored three goals in four games his freshman year. His sophomore year, however, he did not have the same successes — Kelly refers to it as his “slump year.”

“I just wasn’t prepared for the season,” he said. “It took me about half of the season to get into my groove.”

Having been a freshman on varsity led to high expectations.

“He put a lot of pressure on himself,” Austin said. “He struggled, but he never gave up.”

Now in his junior year, Kelly is Rock Bridge’s top scorer. He’s managed to bounce right back into the varsity mentality, scoring 12 goals in 12 games this season, along with three assists.

Kelly was responsible for the Bruins’ clutch goal in double overtime against Moberly, back-to-back goals against Quincy Notre Dame and two goals and an assist against Kirkwood, but that’s just to name a few. Kelly leads Rock Bridge’s second-highest scorer by nine goals. With his goal-hungry attitude, he somehow still plays with much composure and modesty.

“He’s faster and stronger. He’s more skilled and is using the potential that he has,” Austin said. “He’s learned how and when to use his body. He’s not playing with raw athleticism and is the best on the field out of both teams every night.”

Kelly sees himself as a smarter and more confident player than he was two years ago. His experiences from high school and club-soccer have contributed to his level of improvement.

Since Austin has been coaching Kelly longer than any other player on the team, he has gotten to know the ins and outs of Kelly’s playing style.

“Matt’s one of the most coachable kids I have on the team,” Austin said. “He’s very smart and really understands the game. I usually only have to give him small critiques, and he instantly registers it and quickly changes it on the field.”

Despite knowing Kelly as a player, Austin has also realized that the “non-soccer player” side of Kelly is just as appealing.

“He’s just a great kid, the epitome of a student athlete. He excels in school, everybody loves him, he comes from a great family and is the class clown,” Austin said. “Although he’s a great soccer player, he’s so involved and well-liked that soccer isn’t even what he’s most known for at school.”

Besides soccer, Kelly stays involved in Student Council and K-Life, a community-wide Christian ministry.

Through the highs of his freshman and junior years to the low of his sophomore year, Austin looks at Kelly as a team leader on and off the field.

“He’s really stepped up. He’s the first to pump everyone up when the team is down and is a vocal and emotional leader,” Austin said. “He’s stayed very humble and grounded for everything he’s got going for him.”

Bruins put up a 7th consecutive shutout

2010-09-16T12:56:00.000-05:00

By Steve Walentik
Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Think of next week as the Rock Bridge boys soccer team’s midterm exam.

The Bruins are headed to Fenton for the CYC/Bob Guelker Tournament, where they’ll test themselves against some of the state’s top teams, including two-time defending Class 2 champion St. Dominic and perennial Class 3 power Vianney.

Kyle Austin had his eye on the weeklong midseason event even before Rock Bridge began practicing last month.

“Next week’s a big week for us,” said the third-year coach, whose team opens the tournament Monday against Kirkwood at the Anheuser-Busch Center. “We’ve got three tough games, back-to-back-to-back nights. It’s a two-hour bus ride in there. That’s always tough to play. I think at the end of next week we’re going to have a really good idea of just how good a team we are.”

He has to be optimistic about what his players have shown him in the meantime.

The Bruins have been on a tear since dropping their first two games of the season in Quincy, Ill. They’ve reeled off seven straight victories — all of them shutouts — with perhaps the most encouraging performance coming last night in a 5-0 dismantling of Quincy Notre Dame at Sells Field.

Rock Bridge (7-2) stormed to a 2-0 lead over the Raiders (6-3-2) in the first 10 minutes on goals by Ryan Schmidt and Matt Kelly. Schmidt ran onto a cross from Ryan Taylor and finished it over goalkeeper Mark Anderson. Kelly’s goal came when he beat Anderson at the near post with a left-footed shot off a feed from Sam Stoeckl.

“We started with some intensity,” Austin said. “We’ve really, the last two or three games, come out hard and focused. … Early on in the season, we were giving up a lot of shots early in the game, and we were making some mental mistakes, but the last three games, the first 10 minutes have been pretty flawless soccer. We kind of set the tone for the other team, which is good to see, and it paid off tonight with those two early goals.”

It was a welcome change for the Bruins, who had won five of their past six games by 1-0 margins.

“It felt good to get a cushion early,” Kelly said.

Kelly, a junior, gave the Bruins a third goal on the night’s best finish with about four minutes remaining in the first half. He came back to receive a pass from defender Kory McDonald coming out of the back, made a strong turn and fired another left-footed shot into the top left corner of the goal from about 25 yards out.

“That second goal’s world-class,” Austin said. “It’s hard to defense that. He hits that shot, he’s going to score that nine out of 10 times.”

Kelly raised his season goal total to 10, which Austin said is three more than the Bruins’ top goal scorer had all of last season.

The coach certainly appreciated seeing a few other players finding the back of the net. Schmidt’s goal was his third of the season, while Danny Baird and Jake Rettke each scored his first goal after intermission.

Baird carried the ball on a diagonal through the penalty area and fired a right-footed shot back across his body that zipped just below the crossbar to give his team a 4-0 lead with just over 30 minutes remaining.

Rettke added the final tally about 12 minutes later when he slipped behind the defense and beat Anderson to the far post with a low shot.

The defense, anchored by goalkeeper Brady Wulff, was as stingy as ever and kept the Raiders pinned in their own end most of the match.

“We’re starting to forge an identity,” Austin said. “We’ve become a defensively sound team. Up until tonight, we’ve struggled a little bit on offense, but we’ve managed to hold it together, and I think we’re creating a lot of good chances for us. I think we’re starting to find an identity. There’s a lot of pieces we’re still working on.”

But the Bruins are eager for their test.

Rock Bridge soccer team slogan a 'booming' success

2010-09-15T11:24:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
BY Blair Weaver

COLUMBIA — The Rock Bridge soccer players chant ritualistically before their game:

“I say boom, you say town, Boom! Town! Boom! Town!”

The crowd hears it, the opposing teams hear it, but what does “Boomtown” really mean?

Senior captains Brady Wulff and Ryan Taylor are responsible for starting the team slogan. It started last year but has not come into play until this year. It was especially prominent in Tuesday night's 5-0 victory over Quincy-Notre Dame that pushed the Bruins' winning streak to seven games.

“The origin is pretty much a mystery,” Taylor said. “We started it out as just a catch phrase to get us pumped up and it stuck.”

The slogan is centered around some of their pregame huddles, chanted on the bus, posted at the top of the team’s blog and more.

“We always say it before every game and after every game, especially if we win,” Wulff said. “We even sometimes say it when we see each other at school.”

This slogan not only has the team pumped up, but after a recent fundraiser, the school has gotten pumped up, as well. They sold “Boomtown - RBHS Soccer” bracelets to other students at Rock Bridge, which almost everyone on the team already wears. The proceeds go towards buying more “Boomtown” apparel.

“We’ve made shirts, hats and wristbands that all say ‘Boomtown’ on them,” Wulff said while wearing his black ‘Boomtown’ hat.

Taylor said, “It’s definitely catching on with the whole school population.”

Rock Bridge soccer team wins

2010-09-12T13:39:00.002-05:00

Saturday, September 11, 2010
BY Missourian staff

The Rock Bridge boys soccer team won 1-0 in a road game Saturday against Mehlville.

The single goal was made by junior Matt Kelly during the second half, assisted by senior Trevor Davis. While the goal was the highlight of the game, senior goalkeeper Brady Wulff played a strong in the final five minutes of the game.

The Bruins are 6-2 and are set to play Hazelwood West Saturday evening.

Rock Bridge soccer team beats Union 1-0

2010-09-08T16:16:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 | 8:15 p.m. CDT
BY Missourian staff

The Rock Bridge boys soccer team won 1-0 on Tuesday night at Union.

Ryan Schmidt scored the lone goal in the 72nd minute to give the Bruins the victory. The assist came from Eli Sherman. Goaltender Andrew Bare earned the shutout.

The victory moves Rock Bridge to 5-2. The Bruins play next at 5 p.m. Friday at University City High School.

Rock Bridge soccer team cruises on the road

2010-09-05T16:29:00.003-05:00

Saturday, September 4, 2010 | 4:12 p.m. CDT
BY Missourian staff

The Rock Bridge boys soccer team dispatched Marshall 6-0 Saturday in a road game.

Junior Ty Griggs scored the go-ahead goal, but junior Matt Kelly orchestrated the Bruins’ attack, getting two assists and finding the back of the net twice.

Sophomore Eli Sherman, junior Ryan Schmidt and senior Amin El-Darrat also scored goals.

Rock Bridge boys soccer beats Moberly in double overtime

2010-09-05T16:28:00.002-05:00

Friday, September 3, 2010 | 8:38 p.m. CDT
BY Blair Weaver

COLUMBIA - The Rock Bridge boys soccer team won its first game of the Moberly Shootout against Moberly in double overtime on Friday.

The Bruins won 1-0 after Matt Kelly scored with eight minutes left in the second overtime.

Rock Bridge’s second game of the Moberly shootout is tomorrow against Marshall at 10 a.m.

Improvement key for Rock Bridge soccer team

2010-09-02T12:14:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
BY Blair Weaver

COLUMBIA — The Rock Bridge boys soccer team did not get off to a encouraging start when it begins its season with back-to-back losses last weekend at the Midwest Soccer Classic in Quincy, Ill.

“Every season starts with a clean slate,” Bruins coach Kyle Austin said. “We were disappointed after losing the first two games. Nobody likes to lose. But we know we’re young and we know at times we will suffer.”

Not pushing too hard seems to be working. The Bruins won their final game of the tournament to go 1-2, then they won their home opener Tuesday. Matt Kelly scored the lone goal in Rock Bridge's 1-0 win over Rolla that evened the Bruins' record at 2-2.

“It was the best game of the season so far,” Austin said. “We don’t have any season expectations yet. Right now, we’re just trying to improve every game.”

Rock Bridge’s next game is set for 5 p.m. Friday against Moberly at the Moberly Shootout.

Austin lost a lot of experience from last year’s team, which had 12 seniors. This year, the Bruins have seven seniors, only two of which were starters last year, making this year’s squad much younger than last year’s.

This year’s captains are Brady Wulff, Ryan Taylor and Danny Baird and other key players include Kelly and Sam Stoeckl.

Bruins follow the bouncing ball to victory

2010-09-02T12:12:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
By David Briggs

Kyle Austin cringed as the corner kick bounced untouched three times through the box.

For the first three-plus games of the Rock Bridge boys soccer team’s season, the Bruins coach had watched his youthful team stiffen in the clutch.

They even spent more than an hour of practice Monday working on “finishing drills” after their 35 shots yielded only one goal in a weekend victory over Kirksville. But through the first 38 minutes of the Bruins’ home opener against Rolla last night, it seemed another one of those games.

If two Rock Bridge shots deflecting off the crossbar in a 10-second span didn’t offer the hint, surely it was the unmolested corner kick in the 39th minute.

“I was disappointed,” Austin said. “We talk about getting it out of the air on the corner, and it bounces three times on the ground. Three times. No coach is happy about that.”

At least until the Bruins redeemed themselves on the very same play. Rock Bridge benefited from the gaffe when Matt Kelly deflected in a laser cross off his chest seconds later in a 1-0 victory at Sells Field.

Danny Baird was positioned perfectly for the corner kick that eluded the scrum in front of the net. From his spot about 20 yards left of the goal, he sent a one-timer screaming toward the left post.

Kelly called it a “bullet,” and Baird laughed when asked if he could have struck the ball with any more force.

“No way,” he said. “I connected really well with that. Luckily, Matt was in the right place at the right time.”

Baird’s shot tore directly to Kelly, who waited a step in front of the net to distract the goalie. Kelly opened his right shoulder, braced for impact and sent a ball that seemed as if it had ricocheted off a brick wall lining into the net.

“I’ve never seen a goal scored with a chest, but I guess you can pull it off,” Kelly said. “Whatever it takes to get in the net.”

That’s the message Austin is trying to impart on the Bruins (2-2), who are battling injuries and inexperience after losing eight senior starters from last year’s 13-9 squad.

“If you put the ball in good areas enough,” Austin said, “you’re going to finish some.”

Not that the journey can’t be frustrating.

Rock Bridge outplayed Rolla (0-1) in every area. Second-year goalie Brady Wulff claimed his second straight shutout with six saves, the Bruins outshot the visitors 22-10 and they had several edge-of-the-seat chances.

In the seventh minute, defender Tyler Brittain’s seemingly innocent volley from outside the box set off a frenzied sequence. Brittain’s lob toward the net overshot Rolla’s wandering goalie and deflected off the crossbar into the path of Trevor Davis. The defender also nailed the crossbar.

Here we go again?

“Sometimes, you have those thoughts,” Austin said. “You have to stay optimistic. Yes, I cringe, ‘Here we go again.’ But again, you have to think we’re putting the ball in such good position, and you do that enough, any team can put one in the back of the net.”

Time for experimentation

2010-09-01T12:16:00.001-05:00

Young Rock Bridge squad starts over after disappointing ’09 finish.
By Steve Walentik

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Last fall, it seemed Kyle Austin had found a formula that would propel the Rock Bridge boys soccer team back into the state playoffs for the first time since 2004.

After finishing with a losing record in back-to-back years, Austin’s Bruins went 13-8 during the regular season and earned the top seed in the Class 3 District 9 Tournament. With Jefferson City — a team it had already beaten — standing as the top threat to its supremacy, the coach’s senior-laden squad appeared a strong favorite to claim a title.

But Rock Bridge never got the chance to face the Jays again after getting blanked by crosstown rival Hickman 1-0 in the district semifinal, bringing a promising season to an unceremonious end.

After bidding farewell to that large senior class — of which eight members were starters — Austin is starting over as he tries to come up with another equation that will yield a different result in his third season on the sideline.

“We’re experimenting,” said Austin, who only has seven holdovers from last year and is molding a roster heavy on sophomores and juniors.

Three weeks into practice and through a weekend’s worth of games — the Bruins went 1-2 in the Midwest Soccer Classic on Friday and Saturday in Quincy, Ill. — it’s hard to make any definitive judgments about what the team might accomplish.

“Sometimes we look really solid up front. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we look solid in the back,” said Austin, whose team begins its home schedule at 6:30 tonight against Rolla. “We’re moving some players around. … It’s a little early to tell just where we stand.”

That’s especially true because Rock Bridge has yet to have its full complement of players on the field and healthy. Senior defender Patrick Knutson is still working his way back after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament. Junior Austin Powell is mending multiple torn ligaments in his ankle, an injury he suffered last spring. Senior midfielder Ryan Taylor broke a toe during tryouts and was only cleared to resume activities again yesterday. Tyler Brittain is nursing a back injury, as is junior Matt Kelly since Saturday morning.

Austin has tried to see the bright side, acknowledging that those injuries have created opportunities for less-established players to gain additional experience he hopes will pay off this fall and into next, but the fact remains the Bruins, not blessed with an abundance of size or raw speed, are counting on those players to be significant contributors.

Kelly, beginning his third season on the varsity roster, at least got to play in his team’s three games — a 2-1 loss to Quincy, a 4-1 loss to Collinsville and a 1-0 victory over Kirksville — over the weekend, and he produced, putting in all three Bruins goals, including a game-winner against the Tigers with less than five minutes remaining after they’d already fired some 30 shots in the direction of the net.

“Since Day One of tryouts this year, he’s stood out as … for sure, our best offensive player,” Austin said. “He goes at people. He attacks them, and I think he’s primed for a really, really solid season if we can keep him healthy.”

Austin also has high hopes for what Taylor can provide when teaming with senior Danny Baird, a returning starter, in the center of the Rock Bridge midfield.

“He’s probably one of our most technical players, and the biggest thing he brings to the field is his leadership,” the coach said. “He organizes really well on the field, and the kids respect him and look up to him. He’s one of our senior captains. He kind of sets the tone for us, and we just need him out on the field as much as possible.”

The Bruins are optimistic about what they can do — perhaps even winning that elusive district title — so long as they continue to shore up deficiencies such as the defensive breakdowns that allowed a pair of late scores when trying to rally against Collinsville and failing to capitalize on all those chances against Kirksville.

“Coming into the season, we figured it was going to be a rough start because we’re so young and small,” said senior goalkeeper Brady Wulff, who is starting in the net for the second straight year. “Overall, I’d say our goal is like halfway through the season to get to our maximum potential and then carry that throughout the rest of the season.”

It would be better if Rock Bridge reached that point by Sept. 20, when it begins play in the top division of the CYC Tournament against a field filled with elite teams from St. Louis. Austin will surely have a better understanding of what his team is capable of after those tests

2010 Rosters

2010-08-31T15:17:00.001-05:00

-Varsity Roster-
0 Andrew Bare
00 Brady Wulff
1 Jonas Gassman
3 Trevor Davis
4 Ty Griggs
5 Sam Stoeckl
6 Bennett Arey
7 Patrick Knutson
8 John Gunter
9 Austin Powell
10 Danny Baird
11 Ryan Taylor
12 Eli Sherman
13 Tyler Brittain
14 Amin El-Darrat
15 Patrick Bromstedt
17 Ryan Schmidt
19 Ryan Stanowski
21 Kory McDonald
22 Jordan Reiske
23 Matthew Kelly
24 Jake Rettke

-Junior Varsity Roster-
0 Andrew Bare
00 Greg Kelly
1 Jonas Gassman
2 Thomas McCarney
3 Sam Brand
4 Brian Gunter
5 Salim Gumati
6 Jacob Kovarik
7 Tyler Bales
8 Kyle Tonnies
9 Trent Powell
10 Alex McDonald
11 Trip Sheehan
12 Connor Gunter
14 Joey Perkins
16 Korey Kontrades
17 Andy Barnes
20 Taylor Parker
22 Per Andre Stromhaug
23 Cooper Smith
27 Nick White

-C Team-
00 Brandon Erbschloe
2 Matthew Miller
3 Austin McGinnis
4 Stuart Robb
5 Evan Schaffer
7 Adrik Bryant
8 Skyler Reller
9 Eric Riddlemoser
10 Reggie Tyler
11 Garrett Mingus
12 Blake Hausman
13 Morgan Brown
14 Jacob Palmer
15 Evan Henderson
16 Ronald Reagan
17 Bailey Goyette
23 Tyler Siegle
25 Adam Burnam

Varsity Captains Named

2010-08-16T17:26:00.003-05:00

Seniors:
Brady Wulff
Ryan Taylor
Danny Baird

2009 All-District Teams

2009-12-07T14:16:00.003-06:00

1st Team
Chuck Wilson, 11, GKer, Hickman
Colby Stuart, 12, Gker, Jefferson City
Brady Wulff, 11, Gker, Rockbridge
Bryan Kirkweg, 12, BK Jefferson City
Tim Schieffer, 12, BK, Troy
Ryan Paul, 12, BK, Smith Cotton
Cody Gordon, 10, BK, Hickman
Logan Forsythe, 12, BK, Hickman
George Plaukoris, 12, MF, Hickman
Chad Haymart, 12, MF, Jefferson City
Josh Dillon, 12, MF, Rockbridge
John Hazelwonder, 10, MF, Troy
Matt Baker, 12, FWD, Hickman
Alec Nagel, 12, FWD, Jefferson City
Jared Ray, 12, FWD, Troy
Robbie Baird, 12, FWD, Rockbridge
Alex Lang, 12, FWD, Smith Cotton

2nd Team
Justin Nichols, 12, GKer, Troy
Charlie Wheeler, 12, GK, Smith Cotton
Dolan Patterson, 12, BK, Rockbridge
Koby Meyer, 12, BK, Hickman
Bryce Hylton, 12, BK, Jefferson City
Brendan Beck, 12, BK, Jefferson City
Luke Taylor, 12, BK, Troy
Josh Hulen, 12, MF, Rockbridge
Josh Litofsky, 12, MF, Rockbridge
Brian Wilcox, 11, MF, Hickman
Amani Kamanzi, 12, MF, Jefferson City
Colin Janicek, 12, FWD, Hickman
Nick Anglen, 11, FWD, Jefferson City
Kyle Chamberlin, 10, FWD, Troy
Rhys McCracken, 12, FWD, Rockbridge

Honorable Mention
Travis Salvo, 12, BK, Rockbridge
Garrette Daugherty, 12, BK, Rockbridge
James Moesel, 12, BK, Hickman
Steven Claycomb, 12, BK, Jefferson City
Tyler Smith, 12, BK, Troy
Adam Henzel, 12, MF, Rockbridge
Charles Eswine, 12, MF, Jefferson City
Gavin Juckette, 12, MF, Jefferson City
David Sudbeck, 12, MF , Troy
Taylor Cox, 12, FWD, Hickman
Nolan Shipley, 12, FWD, Jefferson City
Ben Lemkuhl, 10, FWD, Troy

District seeding announced

2009-10-21T20:01:00.011-05:00

#1 Rock Bridge
#2 Jefferson City
#3 Troy
#4 Hickman
#5 Smith Cotton

View Bracket
Season Records

Successful send-off for Rock Bridge

2009-10-18T17:43:00.003-05:00

By Andrew Wagaman
Sunday, October 18, 2009

Faced with a looming road trip, the Rock Bridge soccer team boosted its spirits by tying up loose ends at home.

The Bruins (12-7) picked up two wins yesterday against Springfield opponents Kickapoo and Glendale, setting them up for the final stage of the regular season.

“It’s huge to get two home wins and bounce back from a disappointing loss to Waynesville on Thursday night,” Coach Kyle Austin said. “Jefferson City and Hickman both play these guys, so they are a common opponent.”

Rock Bridge outlasted Kickapoo 2-1 in the morning and then beat Glendale 4-1 behind three first-half goals.

“We got really hyped up for our last home game,” said senior forward Rhys McCracken, who scored twice in the first 16 minutes against the Falcons. “We wanted to come out and show them right away that we were the better team.”

In the fifth minute, senior Adam Henzel sent a cross from the right side that weaved through three Falcons defenders. An alert McCracken took one dribble and kicked it into the right corner of the net.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” he said. “It rolled over two defenders’ feet before it came to me. I had a coach tell me to always expect the unexpected, and that’s what I did. I got a little touch on it and was able to put it away.”

About 10 minutes later, McCracken took possession at midfield and blew away the Glendale defense for a breakaway score. Then, in the final minutes of the half, George Brand sent a cross to Robbie Baird, who deftly one-timed it past Glendale goalie Jordan Pitts for a 3-0 lead.

With starting goalie Brady Wulff sick with the flu, Rock Bridge turned to sophomore goalie Jonas Gassman. In the first half, the Bruins defense allowed only a few long shots.

“We have a really solid back line,” Austin said. “We are anchored by some seniors back there. As the season has gone on, they have become a cohesive unit. With our backup keeper getting his first couple starts of the season, it was imperative that they stepped up, as well.”

On Tuesday, Rock Bridge travels to Jefferson City (7-3-3). Whoever wins most likely will claim the top seed in the district tournament. From there, the Bruins will take on a Camdenton team that also beat both Springfield squads. They end the regular season against state championship contender Vianney and a 9-4-2 Rolla team.

“Vianney is ranked top five in the state and has championship aspirations,” Austin said. “Rolla is always tough down there; they play a very physical and aggressive type of game. So we have four interesting games down the stretch.”

This article was published on page B7 of the Sunday, October 18, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Trribune.

Article

Tentative game times for Districts

2009-10-16T07:57:00.001-05:00

Mon, Nov. 2: 4th and 5th seeds play at 5:00 pm.
Tues, Nov. 3: 2nd and 3rd seeds play at 5:00 pm and the 1st seed plays the winner of Monday nights game at 7:00 pm
Thurs, Nov. 5: Final game at 6:00 pm

Don't Stink Wear Pink

2009-10-15T21:51:00.001-05:00

Don't Stink Wear Pink: RBHS boys soccer games!!
Thursday Oct. 15 at 6:00 pm and
Saturday Oct. 17 at 10am and 2pm

"For the Cure" soccer balls raffled at 1/2 time:
raffle tickets $2 (must be present to win)

Proceeds to Mid. MO Chapter S.G.Komen Foundation

(Hickman will also be participating in the cause at their Friday night & Saturday games as well)

Rock Bridge soccer impressive on senior night

2009-10-07T12:28:00.001-05:00

By Andrew Wagaman

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

For Rock Bridge boys soccer Coach Kyle Austin, this season’s senior night was particularly meaningful. With 12 members, the class of 2010 is not only the largest group in Austin’s four-year tenure, it is also the class with which he took over.

BOYS SOCCER LAST NIGHT
Rock Bridge 2, Holt 0

“There’s so much that is special about seeing my first class through that it’s hard to put into words,” he said.

Seniors Robbie Baird and Rhys McCracken expressed it through action last night. Baird set up the game-winning goal with 12 minutes to go and McCracken put the game away two minutes later in a 2-0 victory over Holt.

“It’s definitely how I wanted to go out,” Baird said. Holt “is a good team, so I think we played well.”

With the game still scoreless in the 68th minute , the wing faked out a Holt defender and crossed the ball to sophomore Matt Kelly, who tapped it in for the lead. Baird had to improvise to execute the cross.

“I probably messed up not going through with my run,” he said. “But I knew the guy was going to try to push me out, so I faked like I was going to go inside and then went back outside. I just laid it across, and Matt was there.”

Austin recognized the sequence between Baird and Kelly, the only sophomore on the varsity team, as a celebration of the now and of the future.

Kelly “is very promising and has worked his butt off to get where he is,” he said. “He has done everything the coaching staff has asked of him, and he’s willing to take the work the seniors load on him, like carrying balls to the bus. It paid dividends for us tonight.”

The Indians (10-2) seemed to run out of energy after Kelly’s goal. McCracken capitalized on a breakaway starting near midfield. The insurance goal made up for one that was called back on an offsides call in the first half.

Both teams had chances to score in the first half. Holt took three free kicks just outside the box, while the Bruins were stifled by a couple of excellent saves at the hands of goalie Brad Fahs.

The Rock Bridge wings, though, clearly outplayed the Indians after halftime, harassing Fahs and the backs until they finally broke.

“It was one of those things where if you keep pushing, you’ll find the back of the net,” Austin said. “We spaced it out in the second half and moved the ball around well, and that’s how we scored our first goal.”

The Bruins (7-5) won their fifth in the last six games. They take on Helias (7-0-1) tonight.

“We are starting to change our own luck — that’s sort of the motto we have adopted,” Austin said. “Their work ethic has been amazing the last few weeks, and it’s paying dividends on the field.”

This article was published on page B3 of the Tuesday, October 6, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune.

Goalkeeper's save lifts Rock Bridge soccer team

2009-10-07T12:25:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 | 10:25 p.m. CDT

Rock Bridge goalkeeper Brady Wulff has earned the respect of his coach Kyle Austin. “He has these natural instincts, and his reaction time is just unbelievable. He’s one of the best keepers I’ve ever seen," Austin said. CHELSEA SEKTNAN/Missourian BY Kevin Deane

COLUMBIA — A year ago, Brady Wulff had to watch his Rock Bridge soccer team lose to Hickman in a penalty shootout from the stands while he rehabbed a broken leg. He made sure that didn't happen again this year.

Wulff, the junior goalkeeper for the Bruins, left his feet and dove to his right to block a penalty kick from Hickman junior Matt Baker with six minutes to play, preserving a 2-1 Rock Bridge victory– the first regular season victory against the Kewpies in two years.

After the final whistle blew at Rock Bridge's field, Wulff was engulfed in a sea of gold jerseys at midfield. Not a single member of the Bruins' team got out of the celebratory huddle without jumping on Wulff or giving him several slaps on the back, coaches included. Wulff's smile alone seemed to light up the entire stadium.

“It is just a testament to all that he (Wulff) has been through,” Rock Bridge coach Kyle Austin said. “This is his first season back. That was a debilitating leg injury he had to come back from. He’s worked his butt off, and I’m really proud of him.”

Austin makes the team practice penalty kicks every other day to prepare for situations like these, but he thinks that the save still speaks to Wulff’s abilities as a goalkeeper.

“He is a great goalkeeper,” Austin said. “He has these natural instincts, and his reaction time is just unbelievable. He’s one of the best keepers I’ve ever seen.”

Nobody was more confident than Austin about Wulff's chances of blocking the penalty kick. Austin saw Baker go to the right to score in the shootout in last year’s defeat, and had seen him send penalty kicks to the right numerous other times. So before the kick, Austin tried to flag down Wulff to let him know. He didn’t know if Wulff caught on until he blocked it.

“To his credit, he didn’t tip that he saw me,” Austin said. “We teach him, ‘be instinctive, read the PK taker and make your best guess on where you think the ball is going to go.’ He came up big.”

Wulff commands confidence from his coaches, his teammates and even the opposing players. Junior Andy Atkins is Hickman’s leading scorer with five goals and plays on the same Under-17 club team, Pride, with Wulff.

“It hurts,” Atkins said after the game, “But it was just a great play. It was a moment of brilliance by a great keeper. Without him in the game, it’s a different result tonight.”

Wulff didn’t even have to touch the ball until the 37th minute, thanks to a defense that stepped up and got the ball out, something that both Austin and Wulff say the team has been working on.

“We pretty much know we’ve given up some pretty crappy goals so far this season,” Wulff said. “So right now we’ve just really been working on our total defense.”

The game was a physical one that saw both a Rock Bridge and a Hickman player get sent off the field after being booked with a yellow card. Hickman coach Larry Thornburg says that is just a part of playing in the Rock Bridge/Hickman rivalry. He also says part of it is that players are all familiar with each other from club teams, like Wulff and Atkins, or just from playing against one another for years.

Junior Danny Baird also had a big night, scoring the go-ahead goal with 10 minutes left. He took a ball tossed from Travis Salbo and put it off the crossbar past Kewpies’ goalkeeper Chuck Wilson for his first goal of the season.

Rock Bridge and Hickman could play each other again in the district tournament, something both the players and coaches said they will be looking forward to.

“It was a very even-matched game,” Thornburg said. “I know what we’re going to work on, I know what happened. I couldn’t prevent it, but I know what happened.”

2009-10-06T15:05:00.004-05:00

Tight-knit Rock Bridge soccer team looks to turn around season

2009-09-23T10:10:00.002-05:00

Monday, September 21, 2009 | 9:30 p.m. CDT
Columbia Missourian
LAURA HERRING/Missourian BY Kelly Nelson

COLUMBIA — The Rock Bridge boys soccer team had some high expectations for this season. After a strong finish last season that ended with a loss in the district semifinals, the 13 returning seniors and their coach wanted to do well this year. However, because of what coach Kyle Austin calls some unlucky breaks, the Bruins are off to a 1-4 start.

“We’re a little disappointed, but I really feel the record doesn’t reflect our play on the field,” he said. “We’ve played a lot better than that and have gotten unlucky a few times. I’m pretty happy with how we’ve played.”

The Bruins lost in the last 40 seconds of one game, in overtime during another and by only one goal to the defending Kansas state champions. According to senior captain and defender Dolan Patterson, scoring has been an issue.

“We can possess the ball and stay with every team and keep it inside their box and their half of the field, but we just cannot finish and that’s the main problem right now and no one has stepped up to take charge and score goals,” Patterson said.

Austin said the start of this season has been “eerily similar” to last season when the team began 1-7-1 before winning nine of their last 11 games. Austin said he hopes his team can turn things around this week. Despite having a long, 25-game season with a lot of traveling, the team has tried to intensify practices in order to improve.

“At the beginning we were giving them light practices with not as much conditioning or daunting tasks, and I saw that kind of morphing into their mentality on the field,” Austin said. “We decided as a team that it would be in their best interest to have tough, physical practices. Now we’ve done a 180 in hopes that it breeds success in games.”

Austin also said he thinks the team’s experience playing together will give it an advantage. Although many of the 13 seniors on the team have played together throughout high school, senior captain Robbie Baird said eight of his teammates also play for the Columbia Pride competitive soccer club team together.

“Soccer is all about chemistry and we’ve been playing together for so long that the chemistry stays with us,” Baird said. “You can definitely tell the players who do play (club soccer) together. We just know where they’re going to be on the field.”

In addition to playing together, the team also spends time together off the field.

“We’re all pretty close friends, and most of us hang out with each other off the field,” Baird said. “We'll go to friends’ houses to play video games or go to a movie.”

The team also has dinners together every two weeks in order to relax together.

“We just had a dinner (Sunday night) and we usually go to one of the players’ houses on varsity with the parents and the players and people prepare food and we sit and relax and have a good time,” Patterson said. “We maybe end up watching some NFL games and always end up talking about soccer. It’s a pretty relaxed situation.”

Austin said that while the team itself is close, he also has a strong relationship with the players.

“It’s my fourth year at Rock Bridge and this is the first team I came in with,” Austin said. “My first year was when they were freshmen, so I have a lot of experience working with them, and I think we have a good solid relationship with a lot of trust.”

Since Austin is also sophomore English teacher at Rock Bridge, he has had some of his players in class and is able to see them each day at school.

“I’ve known him for four years and talked to him a lot, and I can really express my feelings to him about the team,” Baird said. “He’ll listen to what we want to do on the field, and we all have a pretty good idea of his expectations too. It’s helpful (seeing him at school) because you can talk to him about other problems going on with the team or school like homework.”

The Bruins are playing in St. Louis’ annual Catholic Youth Conference Tournament with games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with the first- and second-place games on Saturday. They have to travel two hours to and from games each night, but Patterson said the team doesn't let that affect it.

“Really the problem with traveling so far is, with traffic, sometimes you don’t get there until 15 or 20 minutes before a game, but you stay up late doing homework anyway so its really no different," he said.

Austin said the Bruins played in the CYC Tournament for the past five or six years and that the tournament is tough and one of the best in the state.

“St. Louis and Kansas City are two soccer hotbeds, and we like to go and prove ourselves,” Austin said. “It’s a chance to measure up to soccer schools in St. Louis and Kansas City, and they’re not going to drive two hours to get to us when then have 50 or 60 schools to play around them.”

Austin said he is looking toward this tournament to be the “catalyst” and turning point of the season.

“I really believe we can play with anyone on the field,” Austin said. “(The team is) a great group with a great skill set, and we’re looking for this week to be the catapult to a good season.”

Article and photo

Bruins Unleash offense

2009-09-09T16:39:00.005-05:00

By Steve Walentik

Kyle Austin expects a lot out of his Rock Bridge boys soccer team. With eight senior starters, the coach is counting on the Bruins vying for a Class 3 District 9 title.

“They’ve played together now for a number of years,” Austin said. “They’re familiar with one another, both in high school and in club. I think the sky’s the limit for them. We just have to work on a few things, but with that many seniors in the starting lineup and that many seniors and experience coming off the bench, we expect to be pushing there come postseason play.”

But the year got off to a frustrating start for Rock Bridge, which managed only one goal combined in back-to-back losses against Lee’s Summit North and defending Kansas Class 5A champion St. Thomas Aquinas last week in the season-opening Tiger/Bronco Classic in Lee’s Summit. Those defeats left the Bruins looking for a way to ignite their offense as they made their home debut last night at Sells Field.

They found it in a game against Class 2 Union. With senior wing Josh Hulen leading the way, Rock Bridge won 5-1.

“We’ve been working hard for a long time, and we let two in Kansas City get away from us,” senior forward Rhys McCracken said. “I think our whole team knows that. … We just wanted to win. We wanted to come out here on our home field and show our fans what we’re ready to do this year.”

The Bruins (1-2) didn’t waste any time. Hulen scored in the second minute when he headed in a cross from midfielder Josh Litofsky.

“The ball just bounced, and I saw it go right in front of me,” Hulen said. “I put a head on it, and it just looped in over the keeper. I was just the right place at the right time.”

He was right back in that place barely eight minutes later when the ball squirted to the left post. Hulen put his right foot on it and drove it into the back of the net to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.

“We’ve been harping on him all week — coach” Alex “Nichols and myself — to make runs, to get back post, to paint the box, and he put himself in a great spot two times and buried it,” Austin said. “That’s all we could ask.”

Rock Bridge continued to apply pressure over the next 20 minutes and appeared in complete control of the game, winning nearly every loose ball and keeping the Wildcats pinned in their own end.

That all changed in an instant. One second McCracken was rocketing a shot off the hands of diving Union goalkeeper Garrett Hill, giving the Bruins a corner kick. The next, Wildcats forward Cody Beck was corralling a clearing effort, racing downfield 1-on-2 and unleashing a right-footed shot past sprawling Rock Bridge goalkeeper Brady Wulff to cut the Bruins’ lead in half with less than nine minutes left before intermission.

Rock Bridge looked out of sorts for several minutes after Union’s score.

“We had the pace where we wanted,” Austin said. “We had the intensity where we wanted, and the game was going how we wanted. All of the sudden, they had one opportunity, and all of the sudden they buried it, and instead of coming back from it and taking it and dealing with some adversity, we kind of stuck our heads in the sand for the last 10 minutes.”

The Bruins did recover from their momentary letdown and added three more goals. Forward Josh Dillon scored on a penalty kick in the 39th minute of the first half, Adam Henzel headed in a cross from Jonathan Gunter in the 26th minute of the second half and McCracken, the leading goal-scorer last season with 11 goals, added another penalty kick less than four minutes later.

Article and photo

Rock Bridge soccer team cruises
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 | 9:08 p.m. CDT
BY Missourian staff

COLUMBIA – With the help of two quick goals by senior midfielder Josh Hulen and two penalty kicks, the Rock Bridge boys soccer team defeated Union 5-1 on Tuesday in its home opener.

The Bruins came out with a lot of energy and scored their first goal less than two minutes into the game on Hulen’s header. Besides Union’s lone goal, a breakaway by forward Cody Beck, the Bruins controlled the ball the majority of the first half, outshooting Union 13-4.

“We really came out with a lot of intensity and were able to set the tone and pace for the game,” Rock Bridge coach Kyle Austin said. “We have a very athletic team and were able to apply high pressure and be very aggressive.”

The forceful play by the Bruins paid off when they drew two penalty kicks, one resulting in the final goal of the game.

The Bruins play at 4 p.m. next Tuesday at Quincy Notre Dame.

Article

CYC Tournament Schedule

2009-09-05T17:26:00.020-05:00

September 21-26, 2009
Monday September 21 vs Gibault Catholic, 5:00 @ Bishop DuBourg (W 2-1)
Tuesday September 22 vs Bishop Dubourg, 7:00 @ Bishop DuBourg (W 3-1)
Wednesday September 23 vs Granite City, 5:00 @ Bishop DuBourg (W 2-0)

Bishop DuBourg High School, 5850 Eichelberger St. Louis MO 63109

View Full Schedule

Lee's Summit Tournament Results

2009-09-05T12:21:00.003-05:00

Lee's Summit North 1-2
St. Thomas Aquinas 0-1
Raymore Peculiar - cancelled due to weather

Fundraising success!

2009-08-31T14:13:00.003-05:00

CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU to all who donated, helped and survived the fundraiser!

We made almost $2200.00 and I have been told by a few parents who weren't able to help with the sale that they still have a donation to add, so who knows where we will end up. To me, this sure beats sending our kids door to door selling something. Coach seemed thrilled with the event and he finally has some funds to help improve the soccer program at RB.

A big thank you to all who donated items and money and worked the sale.

See you all at the games!
Cara Ross

Varsity Team Captains Named

2009-08-24T20:56:00.008-05:00

2009 Varsity Team Captains announced at Monday practice

#6 Joshua Dillon
#7 Robbie Baird
#8 George Brand
#9 Garrette Daugherty
#20 Dolan Patterson - Alternate Captain

Committee Chairs

2009-08-23T14:41:00.005-05:00

Fundraising - Cara Ross
Tailgates - Laura Dillon
T-Shirts - Jane McCracken & Jodie Brand
Away Meals - Cara Ross
Senior Night - Kelly Wulff & Mary Davis
Memory Book - Mary Beth Litofsky & Angie Salvo
Booster Club - Rosalie McDonald & Amy Gundy
JV Tournament - Ron & Karen Schmidt
Field Set up - TBD
Ball Boys & Girls - TBD

Thank you to all our parent volunteers!
To volunteer for one of the committees listed above email rbhssoccer@gmail.com

Garage Sale Fundraiser

2009-08-23T13:50:00.006-05:00

August 29th - RBHS Pavilion, 7:00AM - 12:00PM

Set up begins at 6:00PM Friday night
If you are willing to help set up Friday or clean up on Saturday afternoon please show up - we can use any extra hands available.

Contact Cara Ross, cross@columbia.k12.mo.us to make a donation, etc.
Proceeds benifit the boys soccer program.

Lee's Summit Tournament

2009-08-18T19:13:00.009-05:00

The Bruin Varsity team will head to Lee's Summit the week of August 31st to face some tough competition. They kick off the week on Monday August 31, 6:30PM vs Lee's Summit North then face St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday September 1, 6:30PM. They will finish the tournament on Friday September 4, time to be determined by record based on the first two games.

2009 VARSITY
TIGER/BRONCO SOCCER CLASSIC
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

GOLD POOL SILVER POOL
1. Lee’s Summit 1. Lee’s Summit North
2. Shawnee Mission South 2. Columbia Rockbridge
3. Raymore-Peculiar 3. St. Thomas Aquinas

Monday 8/31/09
LSN BRONCO Activity Complex (BAC)
6:30 pm #1 L.S. North vs. #2 Columbia Rock Bridge
LSHS/Tiger Stadium
6:30 pm #1 LSHS vs. #2 S.M. South

Tuesday 9/1/09
LSN BRONCO Activity Comples (BAC)
6:30 pm #3 St. Thomas Aquinas vs. #2 Columbia Rock Bridge
LSHS/Tiger Stadium
6:30 pm #2 Raymore-Peculiar vs. #2 Shawnee Mission South

Wednesday 9/2/09
LSN BRONCO Activity Complex (BAC)
6:30 pm #1 LSNorth vs. #3 St. Thomas Aquinas

LSHS/Tiger Stadium
6:30 pm #1 LSHS vs. #3 Raymore-Peculiar

Friday 9/4/09 - CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND (Game Sites TBD after Wed 9/2/09 Matches)
LSN BRONCO Activity Complex (BAC) LSHS TIGER Stadium
5:30 pm 5:30 pm
7:15 pm

Directions:
Lee’s Summit North High School: 901 NE Douglas – I-70 West to 291 South (I-470) Stay on I-470 (right lane) and exit on Douglas St – Exit #9. Turn left ½ mile on Tudor Road. Events entrance is on the east side of building.

Lee’s Summit High School: 400 SE Blue Pkwy – From I-70 E Merge onto I-470 S / MO-291 via exit number 15A toward Lee’s Summit. Merge onto Mo-291 S via exit number 10B – on the left – toward Lee’s Summit, turn Right onto SE Blue Pkwy.

Green & Gold Game

2009-08-18T18:34:00.007-05:00

Rock Bridge Bruins will kick off the season with the Green & Gold Game on August 27, 2009 @ 6:30PM.

Schedule as follows:
Freshman 6:30-6:55
Junior Varsity 7:00-7:25
Varsity 7:30-8:00

Team & indvidual photos will be taken at 4:00PM