04/14/2024
Olathe United FC won their first home game today against a tough Lenexa City FC team by a final score of 7-3. Lenexa City FC went up early 2 - 0 before Olathe United tied it up right before half-time. The second half started with Lenexa City FC taking advantage of the wind and scoring from distance for their third and final goal before Olathe United responded with 5 second half goals to put the game away. After the game, we caught up with Coach Todd Esh to get his thoughts on the game.
"Well, I don't like going down 2 - 0 to start a game but give credit to the boys for fighting hard. We played 25 of the first 45 minutes with 10 players due to an injury and we had no subs. I guess this will help us in case we ever get a red card. This is only our second game and most of these guys are away at college all week so they have had no time to work together. We need to hold it together until everyone gets back from college and our full roster is in place. I am not worried at all. Once these boys get some practice together, the sky's the limit. I was very impressed with our midfielders and wingers as they had some great combination play and created opportunities by switching fields constantly. They really kept the ball moving quickly and they picked up on each other's movements as the game went on. Lenexa was a physically big, strong team and they came out and punched us in the mouth. I like how we responded.
My man of the match (MOTM) is one of our midfielders, Malachi Jaeger (). I had the privilege of coaching Malachi when he was in high school and he was a great player then and is even better now. He can play multiple positions and is very technical. He got injured in the first half but had a great second half with 2 goals and 1 assist and was just a constant menace to their back-line. He brings a lot of energy to the field."
Olathe United's next game is Saturday, April 20th at 1PM when they will travel to Northland FC.