Pirates uses Westhoff’s goal to gain upperhand in intense NCMC battle with Marshall

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Kevin Westhoff knows how intense and physical the Hannibal soccer team’s games against Marshall can be.

“Playing them all four years of high school, it’s always been like this,” Westhoff siad. “It just gets crazier and crazier each year.”

And in a game that featured three red cards, several hard fouls, and disagreements on both sides with officiating, the Pirates had to keep their emotions in check. Westhoff and the Pirates kept their cool and handed their North Central Missouri Conference rivals their first loss of the season in a 1-0 affair Saturday at the Veterans Sports Complex.

“I’m proud of our guys for keeping their heads and not getting too involved and caught up in the things that were going on,” Hannibal coach Eric Hill said.

Tensions reached near boiling point in the final minute. With 50 seconds left, a ball was ruled out off of Marshall, and as Hannibal prepared for a free kick in its own half, Marshall junior defender Anthony Diaz-Granados fell to the ground on the opposite end of the field. A delay ensued as he received medical attention, and during the delay, a Marshall fan was ejected and escorted from the crowd as she expressed her displeasure with how the game had been officiated. 

Shortly thereafter — with time still on the clock — Owls coach Justin Van Winkle called his team to line up on the sideline to shake hands with the Pirates while calling attention to how he felt about the officiating. Both teams decided to play out the final 50 seconds, and the Pirates were able to bleed out the clock.

“It got just absolutely stupid at the end, and I think our guys did a great job of not falling into it,” Hill said. “It was a good game, it really was. Hopefully the next time we play them, the two teams can just play and not let all this other stuff happen.”

Westhoff scored the Pirates’ only goal on a free kick from near midfield with 26:02 left in the second half. Westhoff’s set piece from about 45 yards out missed everyone in the box and bounced into the right side of the net for his seventh goal of the season and first since Sept. 14.

“The thought is always just put it in so someone can maybe get a head on it, but put it on frame,” Westhoff said. “Our team is pretty lucky to have a good goalkeeper who has good hands, but most teams don’t have that luxury, so I just put it on and most of the time they’ll fumble it or our team will get a head on it.

“From my angle it was kind of hard to see, but it ended up in the back of the net, so that’s what I was thankful for. We sent our runners in, nobody got the first touch and it kind of just scared the goalie out of the way.”

Pirates senior goalkeeper Clayton Neisen couldn’t tell either if Westhoff had scored.

“I was confused at first. I thought it went wide,” Neisen said. “Then I saw it trickle into the side of the net and I went crazy.”

Westhoff’s goal came after a player on each team had been sent off on a red card. With 3:46 left in the first half, Pirates senior forward Maddox Tharp got tangled up with Marshall’s Oduver Masael Alvarez, and an extra shove from Tharp earned him a second yellow and subsequent red card. 

Three minutes into the second half, Marshall junior defender Brandon Gutierrez got his second yellow card after he challenged Bodie Rollins too aggressively on a run into the 18-yard box. Westhoff missed the subsequent penalty kick.

“It’s not easy to miss a PK,” Westhoff said. “You’ll be down on yourself, but your teammates are there to build you back up. Everybody misses some chances.”

Hill said Westhoff’s unshakeable confidence allowed him to brush aside that miss.

“He’s usually automatic on those. I expect him to put that away next time he takes it, and he will,” HIll said. “There’s no lack of confidence in Kevin. He could miss three PKs and he’d be ready to step up for the next one and keep playing on the field as well. It’s obviously a little disappointing for him that he didn’t put that away, but it wasn’t going to do anything to his confidence. He’s going to just go out there and play.”

With 12:36 left, Alvarez was shown a red card for arguing a foul call in the Pirates’ forward half, giving the Pirates a man advantage. The Pirates prevented the Owls from generating any scoring chances the rest of the way.

Entering Saturday, the Owls (11-1, 4-1 NCMC) were averaging 5.9 goals per game and had only allowed two goals all season.

“They’ve been putting some numbers on people,” Hill said of Marshall’s start to the season. “We knew it was going to be a tough one, but we were hoping to get more than one. Their defenders are great players, and their midfield controls the ball really well.”

The Pirates (11-2, 5-0 NCMC) have pitched five consecutive shutouts. They haven’t given up a goal since a 2-1 victory over Rolla in the Hannibal Tournament third-place game Sept. 14.

“Our defense has been playing fantastic,” Hill said. “Clayton’s been playing great. The midfield is improving at getting back and helping. Our center backs are so stinking strong. We’re not going to let up a lot of goals this year.”

The Pirates and Owls will clash again Oct. 19 in Marshall.

“They’re going to have the home field advantage,” Hill said of the rematch. “It’s going to be on grass, which we don’t play on a whole lot. They’ll have an even bigger crowd, even rowdier crowd, but I don’t think any of that stuff will get to our guys. We just need to stay grounded.”