Washington’s Khaven Wagenknecht tracks down Fort Madison’s Chase Rogers in Monday’s Southeast Conference match. Wagenknecht connected on his fourth goal of the spring in a 6-2 loss to the Bloodhounds on Senior Night at Washington High School. Photo by KCII’s Nate Gonner.
Sluggish first half performances have plagued the Washington Demon boys’ soccer team (3-7 overall; 0-6 Southeast) this spring, and the story was no different Monday afternoon against the Fort Madison Bloodhounds (7-4 overall; 5-1 Southeast). The teams clashed in a Southeast Conference match at Washington High School, with Fort Madison coming away with a 6-2 victory.
The Bloodhounds opened up the scoring 10 minutes into the clash as junior Noah Dean sent a deflected shot into the left corner for an early advantage. Washington evened the scored a minute later when freshman Tony Torres deposited his fourth goal of the season into the bottom right corner. The two teams would play even for seven minutes before Fort Madison regained the lead for good in the 18th minute as Dean put another goal in the left corner for a 2-1 advantage.
The remainder of the first half belonged to Fort Madison junior Braxton Williams, who score an additional four goals for the Bloodhounds over a 10 minute span. His first goal came in the 25th minute, putting the shot past Washington freshman goal keeper Thomas Zimmer in the bottom right corner. He added goals in the 31st, 32nd, and 35th minute to stretch the lead to 6-1 at intermission.
The teams played even for much of the second half before Washington senior Khaven Wagenknecht gave the Demons a goal in the 78th minute. It was the fourth goal of the season for Wagenknecht, who has scored in every game he has played in this season. The goal concluded the scoring as Fort Madison left town with a 6-2 victory and a season sweep of the Demons.
Washington boys’ soccer coach Steven Caulk say his team’s Achilles’ heel seems be the middle of the first half, “Five of those six goals we gave away came in a 20-minute time period and we come out the second half and we don’t give away a single goal.” Caulk said, “We are hot and cold, there is nothing else really to say.”
The loss is the eighth straight inside the Southeast Conference for Washington dating back to last spring. Washington will look to put a stop to their conference skid on Thursday afternoon, hosting the Mount Pleasant Panthers (4-7 overall; 2-4 Southeast).