Three days after hammering Fredericktown 8-0 in a road victory on Oct. 20, the Perryville Pirates (11-4) soccer team fell 3-2 to Cape Central in a close match Oct. 23 at The Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex in Perryville.
Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said that, while the loss was disappointing, it doesn’t mean much in the “grand scheme of things.”
“Cape Central means nothing to us,” Fulton said. “It’s not going do anything to stand in our way to do what we want. It’s just very disheartening to see your team play poorly when you know they play better than they can.”
The Tigers (8-6) led 2-0 at the half, and the Pirates did their best to close the gap, but ultimately ran out of time.
“There were a couple of bright spots. Kade Baundistel came back in the last 10 or 15 minutes of the game. He stepped up and scored two goals. I think there was like a minute, or a minute and a half left after he scored the second goal, so it didn’t give us much time to catch up, but he did make it look like we didn’t lose so badly. We didn’t play very well.”
Bryan Bohnert finished with 2 assists to match Baundistel’s goals, and keeper Waylon Huber, who took the loss, finished with 5 saves after 80 minutes in goal. He now stands at 9-4 on the season with 5 solo shutouts, 77 saves, and 15 goals against.
Against Fredericktown, the Pirates scored 6 goals in the first half before finishing the game with 2 more after the break.
Baundistel, a senior, finished with a hat trick in the game, while senior Treyton Barnett had 2 goals and 2 assists. Barnett has 25 goals on the season, leaving him tied for fifth among St. Louis region schools, and 10 assists.
Junior Dez Hampson added 2 goals, and sophomore Andres Mattingly added 1 goal. Senior Karston Schilli, the team’s assists leader with 11, finished with 2 against the Blackcats (6-12-1), as did senior Dexter Strattman. Sophomore Ethan Pohlman and Senior Lucas Wright had 1 each.
The Pirates were scheduled to host Kennett (4-8) on Tuesday night before moving on to host the Class 2, District 1 tournament. The Pirates are seeded No. 1 and face the winner of Saturday’s first-round game between Fredericktown and North County (2-17) at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Perryville recorded an 8-0 shutout victory over North County on Sept. 10.
Fulton said he has a simple plan until then.
“I’d just like to get the guys ready for districts,” Fulton said, “and hope we can pull this one out of our hat and get a chance to make a run.”
The Pirates last won a state title in 2014, and finished second in 2015 and 2021.
