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Salloi brace secures 2-1 Sporting win over Rapids

by Brian Turrel

A brace of Daniel Salloi goals led Kansas City to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids Wednesday evening at Children’s Mercy Park.

The Hungarian forward got Kansas City on the board in the 24th minute with a great move in the middle of three Colorado defenders.

Uri Rosell made a quick restart after a Colorado foul and got the ball to Salloi, who zig-zagged past Lalas Abubakar and Jack Price. Austin Trusty tried to slide over to help, but couldn’t get there before Salloi put his shot inside the near post.

Lucas Esteves evened the score for the visitors five minutes later when Sporting couldn’t clear a cross in front of the Kansas City goal. Goalkeeper Tim Melia and defender Andreu Fontas collided and hit the ground on the initial attempt, leaving an open target for Esteves on the rebound.

Kortne Ford set up the winning goal by delivering a well-placed ball to Salloi in a pocket of open space 20 yards from goal on the left side. Salloi closed on goal quickly and knocked the ball inside the far post, past the dive from Colorado goalkeeper William Yarbrough.

Kansas City pressed for a third goal until settling into a low block late in the half. Marinos Tzionis’s speed and footwork baffled the Colorado defense, and he narrowly missed on a couple of scoring chances.

Stoppage time was marred by the ejection of four players, starting with Colorado’s Aaron Trusty, who picked up his second yellow card on a hard foul in the first minute after regulation.

Esteves was given a yellow card for another rough foul a couple minutes later, and then a straight red card in the 6th stoppage minute for pushing Daniel Salloi to the ground from behind.

Esteves’s push was in retaliation for Salloi sweeping Nicolas Mezquida’s plant leg as he tried a quick restart.

Fontas was then sent off for going after Esteves. Finally, after a video review, Salloi was ejected for the foul on Mezquida that started the chain reaction.

Play continued with both sides down to nine players, but mercifully for just a few seconds before the referee blew the final whistle.

Kansas City is in a stretch of seven games in 22 days that will test the durability and depth of the roster. The team will play on the road at San Jose on Sunday, then at home on Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo in a U.S. Open Cup match starting at 7:30 p.m.

Turner kindergarten teacher Maddy Shackelford, second from right, was recognized on the field before the match as the Blue KC Sporting Samaritan for May. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Wyandotte County resident Arianna Gonzalez was the Victory Project honoree for the match. Arianna was diagnosed with leukemia in January. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Daniel Salloi hyped up the crowd after scoring his first goal. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Forward Marinos Tzionis crossed the ball in from the right side. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Colorado midfielder Jack Price pursued midfielder Remi Walter. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Daniel Salloi got the better of three Colorado defenders to score his first goal. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Members of Sporting Kansas City youth clubs paraded across the field at halftime. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

The Cauldron fan area had a new junior member on the drums. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Some young fans asked for a birthday present from French midfielder Remi Walter in his native language. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Members of the KC Fusion soccer team celebrated Daniel Salloi’s second goal. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

High school playoff round-up

Bonner Springs defeated Sumner Academy in the 5A baseball regional semi-final, but lost in the final to Shawnee Heights. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

by Brian Turrel

Late May is a busy season in high school sports, with state playoffs taking place simultaneously in baseball, softball and girls’ soccer. All three sports will finish their season with state championships on May 27 and 28.

Here’s how local teams have fared in the playoffs so far.

Baseball

Bishop Ward defeated Easton-Pleasant Ridge in the 3A regional quarter-final 4-3. The Cyclones will play Perry-Lecompton in the Wellsville regional semi-final. The game has been postponed from Wednesday to Thursday due to expected inclement weather. The game will follow the other semi-final and start at approximately 4 p.m.

Bonner Springs defeated Sumner Academy 6-5 in a regional semi-final played at Legends Field. The Braves lost the final to Shawnee Heights 3-0.

In other regional action:

Mill Valley 3, Piper 1
Olathe West 14, Wyandotte 0
Pittsburg 13, Turner 4
Blue Valley Southwest 15, Washington 0

Softball

Piper defeated Leavenworth 14-9 in the 5A regional semi-final at Basehor, but lost to the Basehor-Linwood Lady Bobcats 7-5 in the final.

Bishop Ward defeated Osage City 1-0 in the 3A regional quarter-final, but lost to Wellsville 10-6.

In other regional action:

Spring Hill 15, Turner 0
Saint Thomas Aquinas 7, Bonner Springs 3

Girls’ soccer

Sumner Academy defeated Bonner Springs 8-2 in the 5A regional semi-final. The Sabres will play Spring Hill in the final on Thursday, starting at 6 p.m. at Schlagle stadium.

In other regional action:

Spring Hill 11, Turner 0
Seaman 6, Piper 2
Bishop Miege 10, Bishop Ward 0
Pittsburg 6, Washington 0 (play-in)
Highland Park 1, Schlagle 0 (play-in)

Piper defeated Leavenworth in the 5A softball regional semi-final, but lost to Basehor-Linwood in the final. (Photo credit Derek Wiley, Leavenworth Times)

Lady Sabres overcome early deficit, earn 8-2 playoff win over Bonner

Sumner Academy junior Joselyn Clark took a shot on goal in the first half. Clark scored three goals in Sumner’s 8-2 win over Bonner Springs in the 5A girls’ soccer regional semi-final. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

by Brian Turrel

The Sumner Lady Sabres gave up early 1-0 and 2-1 leads to the Bonner Springs Lady Braves in their first-round playoff match, but a full-team effort brought Sumner back to an 8-2 lead at the final whistle.

Speedy Bonner forward Jenna Knight caused the Sumner defense problems early, and runs from Knight led to both Bonner goals. In the 9th minute, she took an open shot that ricocheted off the post, but the rebound fell to teammate Jaelyn Romo to put away for the early lead.

Sumner got the equalizer less than two minutes later, when the ball squirted out of a goalmouth scrum to Brenda Guevara-Alatorre who knocked it in from 15 yards out.

In the 22nd minute, Knight got onto the end of a pass from Mercedes Madlock and raced to fire it in to re-establish a one goal lead.

Sumner took less than a minute to come back to tie the score at 2-2, with Joselyn Clark racing unchecked up the middle. Bonner goalkeeper Alyssa King parried the shot, but the rebound fell back to Clark, who put it away.

Sumner made defensive adjustments to prevent Knight from getting open with running room, and the Lady Sabres started to pull away before halftime, scoring three unanswered goals. The most notable was Ashley Terrazas heading in a cross in the 35th minute.

Sumner added on three more goals in the second half, the last two off Terrazas free kicks. In the 66th minute, Terrazas picked out Clark, who knocked the ball in from the near post. In the 67th minute, Terrazas scored on a direct kick from 40 yards out, over the goalkeeper’s hands.

Clark scored three goals in the match. Terrazas and Guevara-Alatorre both notched two, and Gabriella Lopez scored one.

After the match, head coach Jon Borger talked about his team’s victory.

“We got some nice passing patterns, really played team ball,” the coach said. “We usually look to Joselyn Clark, our number 8, but we were able to put together some great team goals tonight. That’s what I was really proud of.”

The Lady Sabres advance to meet the Spring Hill Lady Broncos in the regional final on Thursday, starting at 6 p.m. The match will be played at Schlagle stadium. The winner of that game will advance to the 5A state tournament in Wichita on May 27 and 28.

The Bonner Springs Lady Braves finish their season with a 4-12 record. With 8 freshmen and 6 sophomores on the varsity roster, many of them playing significant minutes, the team is poised for a lot of growth in the next two years.