by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Coming off one of its biggest offensive performances in history, Kansas City Kansas Community College will kick off Jayhawk Conference and Region VI soccer play Tuesday when the Blue Devils entertain Neosho County at 7:30 p.m.
Scoring the final seven goals of the game, the Blue Devils ran their record to 2-0 with a 9-2 thumping of Blue River Friday. Tuesday’s conference opener will come on the heels of a women’s contest with Neosho starting at 5 p.m.
Freshman Reed Axthelm and sophomore Leonardo DaSilva each had three goals and sophomore Guilherme Grave a goal and two assists to lead the way.
The Blue Devils peppered the Blue River goalkeeper with 15 shots on goal. Blue River, meanwhile, had just five shots on goal, three of which were turned away by sophomore Youssef Gadelkerim.
The two teams battled to a 2-2 deadlock through the first 25 minutes. Axthelm gave the Blue Devils 1-0 and 2-1 leads on assists from Grave and Hector Valles, who had two for the game. But each time Blue River bounced back to tie.
Freshman Gustavo Palmeiri finally put KCKCC ahead to stay on a goal off a free kick at the 26.23 mark, then assisted Grave’s goal seven minutes later for 4-2 lead and DaSilva closed out first half scoring with his first two goals, the first on an assist from Jesse Calderon, the second on a penalty kick.
After freshman Abdulrahmen Khalid made it 7-2 on an assist from DaSilva early in the second half, Axthelm and DaSilva closed out their “hat tricks,” Axthelm on an assist from Grave and DaSilva from Valles.