Mount Vernon High School

On Saturday the Mt. Vernon boys' soccer team hosted the Southridge Raiders in a conference showdown. Although the Raiders had a much better record going into the game than the Wildcats did, that didn't deflate the Wildcat's confidence. Throughout the first half the game remained evenly matched with both teams having chances to score. Mt. Vernon had the best opportunity when they drew a foul in the box to set up a penalty kick, but they couldn't finish it to pull ahead. The offense found some rhythm and chemistry that has been missing over the last couple games, and the defense stayed steady as they have, even though there were new people playing in some unfamiliar and new positions. At the break the score was knotted up at 0-0. In the second half Mt. Vernon opened with an early shot, but Southridge shut down the opportunity before capitalizing on a couple Mt. Vernon mistakes to go ahead 1-0. The Wildcats responded well by scoring a goal within minutes of going down. Senior James Basden took a free kick and found the head of fellow senior Kyle Lindenschmidt for the goal. Unfortunately Southridge responded again just minutes later to go on top for good. The Raiders added a third goal to put the game out of reach for the Wildcats. The Raiders added a few more late goals to finish the game off. The Wildcats travel to Princton Monday night at 5:30.