Sandite Boys' Soccer season comes to an end at Deer Creek

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School Boys' Soccer Team (3-12) saw their season come to a close in Edmond Thursday night as they were handily defeated 7-0 by the defending State Champions, No.18 nationally ranked Deer Creek (12-1). 

The boys finished the season with the same number of wins as last year, plus two more losses. In 2015 the boys started 0-4 before they found their first win, but this year they pulled off an impressive 4-0 shutout of Muskogee in the second game of the season.

They lost five straight from there, but placed sixth in the Edison Green and White Tournament after freshman Ethan Baxter scored a hat trick in a 4-1 defeat of Regent Prep. The third win this season is the most important game to win for a Sandite. The Highway 97 Rivalry went to Sand Springs in a 2-1 overtime victory Tuesday night. 

The Antlers wasted no time in getting on the board as sophomore Chris Smirlis notched a goal less than three minutes into the game. The game was a shooting melee, but Sandite keeper Edgar Soberano was all over it, picking up seven saves on thirteen shots before allowing a goal with 13 minutes remaining in the half. The Sandites finally got off their first shot of the game in the 32nd minute, but it was no where close.

The Antlers added another goal for the 3-0 lead with a little over five minutes in the half, then scored a fourth with only 0:50 seconds left. With moments left, Alex Hernandez fired off the second shot of the half for the Sandites from thirty yards out, but sent it wide left as the clock expired. Deer Creek added a PK 16 minutes into the second half for the 5-0 advantage. Tucker Brown added the sixth goal of the evening with 21 minutes to play, and from there Deer Creek sent in the backups to finish the night. The Antlers scored on a free kick with 16 minutes left and the rest of the night consisted of driving back and forth with neither team making any really close runs.

Redistricting really hurt the boys this season, who actually played better than last season in many ways. The tough district included two nationally ranked teams in Deer Creek and Union. The boys' season opener was also to a nationally ranked team, though East Central wasn't a district game. The boys were far better than their record indicated, as demonstrated by the fact Union and East Central each only beat the Sandites by two goals. Seven of the losses this season were decided by two goals or less.

Baxter led the team in scoring with 5 goals, followed by Andrew Morrison with 3, Kaleb Brooks with 2, Alex Hernandez with 2, Cade Loomin with 1, Cody Gurley with 1, and Ignacio Garcia with 1. 

The team will be graduating seven this year: Brooks, Lazaro Franco, Dylan Lambert, Simon Hollekve, Dalton Lane, and Hunter Jacob.

This season's photo galleries can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/2016-Soccer

Lady Sandite Soccer season comes to an end at Deer Creek

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School Girls' Soccer Team (9-6) traveled to Edmond Thursday night for their season finale against Deer Creek High School (11-3) and fell 5-2 to cap a disappointing end to a season that started with lots of promise. 

The girls started the year with a bang, racking up a 3-1-1 record in preseason scrimmages, including winning the Stillwater preseason tournament. In the season-opener at East Central they dominated their opponents with a 10-0 mercy rule shutout in only 23 minutes. Over the course of the season they racked up six shutouts and a championship trophy at the Edison Green and White Tournament.

The girls' six-straight win streak came to an end with a 6-0 loss to Union, who is currently ranked number one in the nation with a 30-game win streak. They rebounded with a dominating 9-1 performance against Putnam City North, which saw Megan DeShazo score six goals. From there, however, they lost the final four of the season and failed to make the playoffs.

Things started out fairly close as Deer Creek held a 3-1 lead after the first half, with the lone Sandite goal coming from Kyndal Zicker.

DeShazo narrowed the gap to 3-2 on a penalty kick exactly four minutes into the second half, but Megan Neilson returned the favor seven minutes later for the two-point advantage. 

Oral Roberts University-signee Taylor Reed added to the lead on a high-sailing free kick from 27 yards out that sailed just over Sandite goalie Abigail Banks's head into the top right corner with 21 minutes to play.

With a 5-2 lead and 17 minutes left, the Lady Antlers pulled their starting lineup and sent in the second string. That evened things out quite a bit, but even the youngsters from an annual powerhouse like Deer Creek are above average players and the two teams were evenly matched for the duration and regulation expired before either team could score again. 

With the bulk of the ladies' wins coming against non-district foes, the girls settled for sixth in the district and failed to make the playoffs. Despite the heavy losses at the end of the season, the girls still outscored their opponents by an impressive 46-26 overall this season.

DeShazo led her team in scoring with 13 goals, followed by Zicker with 12, Kayla Foster with 10, Brooklyn Eardley with 9, and Kylie Taylor with 2.

Foster, who is signed to play with Missouri University of Science and Technology next season, led for much of the season, scoring two hat tricks in the first four games, but was sidelined for half a dozen games after sustaining an injury against Bixby. 

DeShazo, a junior, opened the season with a hat trick against East Central, and had the highest single-game performance for the girls with her six goals against Putnam North. 

The girls will be losing McKinzie Horton, Marissa Doll, Bryn Lewis, Taylor Coyle, Ashley Marino, and Alexis Slabby plus four players who are signed to play at the collegiate level. Eardley is headed to ORU, Kylee Cramer is headed to Oklahoma Baptist University, and Madison Dye will be playing for Northeastern State University. 

This season's soccer gallery can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/2016-Soccer

Sandites take sixth place at Edison Green and White Tournament

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Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School boys (2-7) settled for a sixth place finish at the Edison Green and White Tournament Saturday afternoon, falling 2-0 to the host team for a 1-2 tournament record. 

The Eagles (5-3) got off to a heavy offensive early on and the bulk of the first half was spent in Sandite territory, with shots ringing out left and right. Steven Astin got off one shot that was completely undefended and miraculously caught the goal post for the save.

Sophomore Blake Faulkner was all over the ball but took a while to get sighted in. His first shot deflected off a Sandite defender, two minutes later he sent one wide left, and two minutes after that he sent one high through the football goal posts. Finally he found his mark in the 12th minute and found an opening under triple coverage to fire a shot right to the center of the goal. 

Edison didn't stop their press there. Cameron Chamberlin took a shot just two minutes later, then Eddie Vargas bounced one off a Sandite's back a few minutes later. 

Sand Springs finally began to make some offensive moves in the 21st minute as Ethan Baxter, who just recorded a hat trick in Friday's victory over Regent Prep, made a close run at goal but was tripped up by the Eagle goalie who made a dive at the ball. 

Austin Morrison had a very close shot as he bounced a header off the ground in front of the goal and it just narrowly flew high. Alex Hernandez sent in a corner kick soon after and Kaleb Brooks sent a header high and wide. 

From there, however, the Eagles returned to the offense for the duration of the half. Vargas and Angel Torres each took long shots that sailed high. In the final minute Sand Springs tried to rally as Hernandez took a wide shot with 45 seconds left and Cade Loomin made a run at goal in the final seconds, but regulation expired with the Sandites in a 1-0 hole.

The second half was a lot slower, but Edison furthered their lead to 2-0 with a goal in the 11th minute by Jack Coon. Hernandez got off another pair of shots for the Sandites, sending one high and one wide, and Morrison got another close call as he tipped one off the post with 2:40 remaining. Unfortunately the boys were unable to rally and ran out of steam.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday night at Union (6-0).