If Shawnee Heights keeps it up, the T-Birds may want to play all their soccer games in Lawrence.
For the second time in five days, Heights left Lawrence with a shutout victory. The T-Birds smothered Lawrence High, 4-0, on Thursday at Youth Sports Inc. fields. On Saturday, Heights escaped with a 1-0 victory at Free State.
"From the outset we set the tempo," Heights coach Mike Balint said of victory over the Lions (0-2). "We were able to put on pressure early and we kept them on their heels quite a while."
The T-Birds, now 3-0, have outscored their three opponents 16-1. Their other victory was a 11-1 decision over Topeka Highland Park.
On Thursday, the T-Birds outshot the Lions, 17-3. Heights senior forward Jeremy Moore scored twice -- the first on a breakaway in the 10th minute and the second in the 33rd minute to give the T-Birds a 3-0 lead heading into halftime. Senior midfielder Jake Meggison scored the second goal in the 28th minute.
LHS coach Chris Bertrand was miffed by the first half, especially after being pleased by the Lions' effort in the season opener at Manhattan on Friday.
"You'd be surprised how well they played last week in Manhattan," Bertrand said of the 3-2 loss. "We were a better team.
"It was an abomination out there today. We had no touch on the ball. We couldn't control the ball. I don't want to make excuses, but the field was rock solid and the ball was bouncing all over. But it's the same for both schools."
Lawrence's lone opportunity in the first half came in the 36th minute when junior Zach Hemenway tried to sneak a shot in goal. Heights' goalie was out of position, but the T-Bird sweeper kicked away Hemenway's shot deep in the box to deny.
"I expected the goalie to catch and then I stretched it out and I just got a piece of it," Hemenway said.
Seven minutes into the second half, Heights tacked on its final goal on Charlie Devlin's header.
"We're a young team and we're still trying to figure out where we are," said Balint, who graduated 12 players from a 14-4 team that reached the state quarterfinals last fall. "This is the best we've played so far."
With six minutes left, LHS senior Clint Akerberg popped a shot at goal, but it deflected off the post.
During the game, LHS received two yellow cards -- the first for cussing and the second for a late push in the back.
"They've got to think more like a team," Bertrand said. "We're playing individual soccer right now. We went out there with the wrong attitude. Soccer is so psychological. If you're weak psychologically, you're in trouble."
Said Hemenway of the loss, "We came out and we weren't running or working hard."
In the junior varsity game, LHS lost, 1-0. Roland deBoer and Andrew Bailey were cited for their strong defensive play.
Next for LHS is Blue Valley Northwest at 4 p.m. Tuesday at YSI.
-- Steve Rottinghaus' phone message number is 832-7152. His e-mail address is srottinghaus@ljworld.com
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