BEREA — When a team is missing five key starters, it can be difficult to pull off a win.

That was the challenge that Madison Southern’s boys soccer team faced Wednesday in the Berea Cup. The Eagles were missing sophomore Adam Miller, junior Brandon Helm and sophomore Tyler Edmister for various reasons. Junior David Enge was benched one game for receiving a red card during Monday’s match against Franklin County and sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Dickhaus is preparing to undergo surgery on a broken knuckle later this week.

The short-handed Eagles (1-4-2) came up short against Anderson County, falling to the Bearcats, 4-1, at Berea Community.

“We’re missing so many starters,” Southern coach Lyle Bailey said. “We’ve got guys who haven’t played varsity at all out there doing their best. It’s hard when you’re missing two team captains and another starting midfielder and a couple other guys. It’s tough to overcome.”

Anderson County went into halftime with a 1-0 lead despite the earning Eagles’ several opportunities to put the ball in the net. One of the best scoring chances for Southern in the first half was when sophomore Chad Wheaton took a shot from in front of the goal, but the ball glanced off of the crossbar.

When the Eagles went into the break, Bailey said he and the other coaches tried to keep their spirits up.

“We just said keep at it,” he said. “We’d had a few good chances, like Chad’s attempt off the crossbar.”

It only took 10 minutes into the second half to put the game for Anderson County to put the game out of reach. Bearcat senior striker Sam Williams got a ball threaded to him by senior striker Mitchell Wilson and put it past Eagle goalie Hector Remirez.

“They have a really good fielder in (Williams) and they got really good chances and scored,” Bailey said. “I thought our backup goalie made some really good saves tonight. They just finally wore us down and scored.”

Bearcat senior midfielder Robbie Munafo was able to hit the net from about 20 feet away with 23:12 left in the game and Williams was able to score again for Anderson County with just more than 15 minutes left on a goal assisted by sophomore midfielder Stephen Pulcifer.

Southern’s lone goal of the game came with 12:41 left in the game. Sophomore A.J. Jeck had a corner kick for the Eagles and Bearcat junior goalkeeper Brian Fleck was distracted by a diversion in front of the net long enough for freshman Clay Wilburn to put it in the net.

“We put a guy on the goalie to create some confusion and Clay was just at the right place at the right time,” Bailey said.

Madison Southern had six shots to Anderson County’s 14. Remirez was able to get five saves for the Eagles to Fleck’s three for the Bearcats.

Madison Southern will have some time off to get its players healthy. They will face off against Somerset at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Berea.

“Hopefully some of these guys can get better and we’ll have our red card guy back,” Bailey said. “Kyle’s having surgery Friday, but he should be back and ready to play.”



Model falls to South Laurel

The Model girls soccer team dropped a home matchup Wednesday again-st South Laurel, 2-1.

The Lady Patriots fall to 4-4-1 on the season. They will face off against Bellevue Saturday on the road.



Berea drop 4-0 decision to Scott County

The Berea girls soccer team fell to Scott County, 4-0, Wednesday in Georgetown.

The Lady Pirates (5-4) will face off against Boyle County Monday in the Boyle County Rebel Showdown.