Millard West Wildcats

Lincoln East - 2 Millard West - 1

State Semi-Final Game

 Omaha World Herald -May 19, 2003

A penalty kick at 61:28 by Lincoln East's Steve Gogela at 61:28 snapped a 1-1 tie.

 "These cardiac kids are keeping my heart pumping," East Coach Jeff Hoham said. "We didn't panic. We stuck with our game plan."  

The Spartans trailed 1-0 at halftime as No. 6 Millard West took an early lead on Jeff Stewardson's 13th goal of the season, off an assist by Josh Klym, at the 8:08 mark.

East tied the match at 48:06 when James Kurasawa scored after a corner kick from Mike Johnson rolled down the side of teammate Justin Lightner and landed directly in front of Millard West's goal. Kurasawa kicked into the right side of the net for the score.  

"I was in the right place at the right time," Kurasawa said. "I was just hoping for a deflection and it couldn't have been any more perfect. I don't know how it bounced off Justin, but luckily, it bounced right to me."

The corner kick gave East a situation Hoham was hoping for as he and his staff mapped out strategy before the match. According to Hoham, part of that strategy came from watching Westside and Millard West in a first round game on Saturday. Millard West goal keeper Nick Onken played Saturday and Monday with 30 stitches in his left knee as a result of an injury in the Wildcats' final district match.  

"After we watched their game against Westside it became very obvious to us that (Millard West) would struggle with corners," Hoham said. "We talked about the lack of mobility in their keeper. Because of the right leg he wasn't going to be able to move well when he pushed to his left. As a result of that, we planned to get as many corners as we could."

The Spartans had only one corner kick in the first half, but they took advantage of their first try in the second half.  

"We got that corner and that's exactly what we wanted," Hoham said. "The ball bounced around a little bit and James was right where he needed to be and put it in the back of the net."

Gogela's penalty kick came after Millard West was called for tripping inside the goal box. The senior midfielder sent the ball past Onken into the left side of the net for the game-winning goal.  

"We seemed to score that first goal then sit back," Millard West Coach Ron Beernink said. "That's kind of hard to coach out of kids that they need to keep pressing. We got a nice goal then got back on our heels a little bit and East took over and controlled things for long periods of time."

Lincoln East (16-1).........................0 2-2

Millard West (14-6).........................1 0-1

• Goals - 1, MW, Jeff Stewardson (Josh Klym), 8:08. 2, LE, James Kurasawa (Justin Lightner), 48:06. 3, LE, Steve Gogela, PK, 61:28.