Washington Boys Soccer

Warriors score late, down Linn-Mar boys

The seventh-ranked Washington boys soccer team controlled the action all night, and finally punched in a goal midway through the second half to break a scoreless tie en route to a 2-0 victory over No. 12 Linn-Mar Tuesday night at Kingston Stadium.

“I’m happy,” said Washington Coach J.P. Graham. “I never felt like the game was out of our control, but still, when it is 0-0 most of the time, you are just waiting for that one time when somebody makes a mistake. The soccer gods can be brutal sometimes when you are dominating a game and it is 0-0.”

Washington (9-1, 6-0 MVC) dominated the possession and created chances all night against the Linn-Mar defense. But the Lions (5-3, 3-3) often held Washington to long shots, or no shots at all, for the first 60 minutes of the contest.

“We didn’t attack in the proper way,” Graham said. “We were trying to force things over the top, we were trying to force things down the middle.”

Although the Warriors had some kinks in their attack, the Lions' defense certainly made sure not to make it easy for them. Linn-Mar kept players back on defense to counter the powerful Washington attack that had scored 22 goals in its previous six games.

“I don’t think they want to spread the game out too far on us,” Graham said. “I think we are a little bit better if it turns into a wide open game, and that’s what they did. They did a good job of keeping their numbers back, they never really got out of position defensively.”

But the Warriors stuck with it. After a few adjustments at halftime, Washington finally broke through the Linn-Mar defense in the 61st minute when junior Max Versteegh got to a ball just before Linn-Mar keeper George Steil and hit it towards the net. It was unclear whether it was going to get into the goal until Mike Daughtery caught up to the slowly rolling ball in front of the net and booted it in.

“I was outside right and I just went in, took the cross from Max and I just put it in,” Daughtery said. “It didn’t look like it (was going in) to me so I was like, might as well just take it if it wasn’t going in.”

Linn-Mar picked up the offense a little bit after falling behind. The Lions started to push forward to try to equalize the game, but the Warriors would not surrender possession, continuing to push even with the slim lead. That strategy paid off in the 74th minute when senior Brandon Besong found Jack Sundermann for another goal and a 2-0 cushion that all but put the game away.

“I think it just shut them out and put them away,” Daughtery said. "I mean, they kept the pressure up, but it felt to me like they were just out.”

Washington 2, Linn-Mar 0

Goals -- CRW: Mike Daughtery (61st min.), Jack Sundermann (74th min.). Assists -- CRW: Max Versteegh, Brandon Besong.

Warriors hand Cedar Falls 1st loss

Washington scored three goals in the first half and the seventh-ranked Warriors handed No. 5 Cedar Falls its first loss of the season, 4-0, Saturday afternoon in a boys soccer game at Kingston Stadium.

Kimu Kasha scored in the game's seventh minute for Washington (8-1, 5-0 Mississippi Valley Conference). The goal came off the first of two assists by Austin Bergstrom and Brandon Besong.

Boris Licona-Moreno scored in the 24th minute, from Bergstrom, and David Nega planted one in the back of the net four minutes later.

Jack Sundermann's goal early in the second half finished the scoring.

Cedar Falls fell to 7-1, 4-1.

Washington 4, Cedar Falls 0

Goals -- CRW: Kimu Kasha, Boris Licona-Moreno, David Nega, Jack Sundermann. Assists -- CRW: Austin Bergstrom 2, Brandon Besong 2, Alex Zalesky.

Sundermann's goal lifts Warriors in OT

Jack Sundermann's goal in the eighth minute of overtime lifted No. 7 Washington past No. 14 Waterloo West, 2-1, Saturday morning in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys soccer game at Kingston Stadium.

West (5-4, 1-3) took a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute of the game on Havis Hadzalic's unassisted goal.

Austin Bergstrom's penalty kick goal midway through the second halfway tied the game for Washington (7-1, 4-0).

Washington 2, Waterloo West 1

Goals -- WW: Havis Hadzalic; CRW: Austin Bergstrom, Jack Sundermann. Assists -- CRW: Darin Mangold.

Besong will get his kicks at Missouri State

Cedar Rapids Washington star forward Brandon Besong has decided to play college soccer at Missouri State University. He picked the Bears over Western Illinois and several smaller schools in Iowa.

Warrior Coach J.P. Graham thinks Missouri State will be getting a great player.

“He is special because he is not only fast, but strong," Graham said Monday. “Usually you don’t get a combination of the two. And to be that big and strong but have that good of a touch makes him a triple threat.”

Although Besong is undeniably talented, he wasn’t always sure he would make it to a Division I school. He began to realize he had the talent to merit a scholarship in 2009 when he was selected to the regional Olympic Development Program comprised of 20 top players in the Midwest.

Besong was named first team all-state, all-conference and all-Metro his junior year in 2010 and began to attract the attention of colleges.

The first college that showed interest was Notre Dame, which invited him to its prestigious camp last summer. That exposed him to many Division I coaches, including Missouri State assistant coach Michael Seabolt.

“I ended up going to Missouri State because Coach Seabolt was the first coach to fully recruit me,” Besong said. “He believed that I had the special talent to come to their school and play. He pursued me from Notre Dame until now.”

Another reason Missouri State seemed to fit best for Besong is that they recruited him with a couple of different positions in mind. He will change position from forward next season.

“I can be a forward in high school but when it comes to college, I know I’m not the type of player that can just go and shoot,” he said. “I’m a passer. I like to pass, I like to play defense, I like to tackle people.”

Graham doesn’t anticipate that the change in position will have a negative effect on his play.

“I think he will be fine,” Graham said. “He is the kind of team player that will do anything for the team.”

Besong will need to make that change relatively quickly if he wants to avoid being redshirted next season.

“My goal is to play as a freshman,” he said. “I don’t want to redshirt, I want to play, and they said that is possible. I just have to put in the work.”

Besong plans to major in sports entertainment management and would like to become a college athletic director some day.