Unity falls in soccer regionals

WARRENSBURG — Sometimes the third time isn't the charm.

The Unity soccer team dropped its third match of the season to Warrensburg-Latham 5-2 in the opening round of the IHSA Class 1A W-L Regional Tuesday, ending Unity's season at 9-9-2.

The Rockets lost by five to the Cardinals the first time the teams met in September and then fell 3-1 to them weeks later in the Okaw Valley Conference Tournament title game.

Unity coach Michel Stringer knew his team would need to be at its best against the Cardinals to have a chance Tuesday. The Rockets played aggressively, but so did the Cardinals.

"In other games that we've lost we've played more defensive," Stringer said. "Today we were really aggressive even though we were losing."

W-L scored two of its first three goals on penalty kicks to go up 3-0 seconds into the second half. A fast-break goal by Eric Wenzel pulled the Rockets back within two immediately following the second PK, but W-L returned with a header goal of its own to recover the three-goal lead.

Patrick Mannon scored Unity's second goal with four minutes left to end the scoring.

Stringer felt the early penalty kicks gave the host Cardinals the momentum. He felt the Rockets played W-L pretty evenly if not for their two PK scores.

"I don't think they were having an A-game day," he said. "When we played them at Okaw both teams were having an A-game day. I don't think they were today, but we weren't at our best, either."

As a whole, Stringer said afterward he was proud of the Rockets and the season they had. Unity won four times last year, and their nine wins this year were among the most in school history.

"Nine's not bad; I wish there were more," Stringer said. "I think there could have been a lot more, but you take things the way they are."

One thing the Rockets had to deal with was late-season injuries.

Unity lost starter Gino Giannetti to an ACL tear earlier this month, and goalie Ryan Reitmeier was injured in last week's regular season finale. Unity also had several players miss action with minor dings.

"The injuries hurt us," Stringer said. "I think we were starting to play really well and then we had a lot of kids go down."