Joplin has seldom been a pleasant location for Viking soccer and on a recent September evening, that again was the case. Almost before fans had settled into their seats, Joplin put the ball in the back of the net. By seven minutes into the match, the Eagles scored their second goal. At the 21 minute mark, their lead increased to 3-0.

With their backs against the wall, the Vikings came out aggressive in the second half and within two minutes, Joey Ekstam found Tim Griffin who buried the ball in the goal. Both teams battled hard with PHS creating more scoring opportunities. Midway into the half, a foul by Joplin in the box gave Tom Marlow a penalty kick that he drilled in the net, narrowing Joplin’s lead to 3-2.

Despite a furious attempt to score and outshooting Joplin 21-8, the game ended in a 3-2 conference win for the Eagles.

The school bus delivered the Vikings to the city of Nixa the very next night. With future, District 12 seedings on the line, each team measured the other in the first half of the game. After 40 minutes of soccer, a score of 0-0 showed on the scoreboard.

The action heated up in the second half as Nixa got on the scoreboard. PHS answered quickly on a shot driven from the center by Tom Marlow. Later in the half, Parkview was given a free kick 10 yards outside the box. Instead of putting a shot on goal, Marlow tapped the ball to Tim Brooks who drilled an “upper 90″ shot on the right hand side of the goal. Nixa answered late in the half to tie the score at 2-2. Minutes later, the teams headed to overtime.

With minutes left in the first overtime, Seth Fuson let go a right-footed shot, 30 yards out from the keeper. Seconds later the PHS crowd erupted in cheers as the ball found the upper left side of the goal. In the split-second, Thursday’s frustration was wiped away by Friday’s victory.

The Junior Varsity boys found both cities — Joplin and Nixa — to their liking. The squad dominated the game against Joplin on Thursday, winning comfortably, 4-1. Against Nixa on Friday, the JV again played solid, coming away with a 2-0 victory.

(First photo by Steve Brooks; photos 2, 3 and 4 by Fred Fotsch.)

The 16-player, Viking Showdown All-Tournament Team was recently released. As selected by the coaches of the teams in the tournament, three Parkview Vikings were named to the team. Congratulations to:

Tim Brooks - Varsity
Will Griffin - Varsity
Jared Moore - Junior Varsity

Motivated in part, perhaps, by the knowledge that the recent Southwest Region Coaches’ Poll-Class 3 placed the Waynesville Tigers ahead of the Parkview Vikings in rankings, the varsity squad came out Tuesday night to prove the poll wrong. Led by senior Tom Marlow, the team scored five times (one goal was helped in the net by a Waynesville Tiger) while holding the Tigers scoreless.

Marlow connected three times with the back of the net and also assisted on a goal by sophomore Tim Griffin. Two of Marlow’s goals were unassisted; the third was assisted by senior Joey Ekstam. After 80 minutes of play, the game ended with Parkview 5, Waynesville 0.

The junior varsity game produced a nearly-identical outcome for the Vikings. Five goals were scored and the Vikings won. The only difference was that Waynesville was able to score one of the five goals in this game.

Despite the fact that the Vikings comfortably controlled play, keeper Jonathan Malter had to make several great saves to hold the Tigers scoreless for most of the game. By the time they did put the ball in the Viking net it was a case of “too little, too late.” And to boot, the Vikings came right back and scored another goal to reastablish their three-point lead. The game ended with the Vikings on top, 4-1.

With dramatic clouds gathering and swirling overhead, the varsity Vikings then faced off against Poplar Bluff. While dominating play, the Vikings were able to put only one of many scoring opportunities past the Poplar Bluff keeper. On the other end of the field, a couple of fast and dangerous Poplar Bluff forwards repeatedly looked to slip past the PHS defense and tie the game. Only quick work from the Viking defenders and an amazing save from PHS goalie Tyler Kutz kept the Vikings on top, 1-0, throughout the first half.

Even though game times for Saturday were adjusted to allow for rain-outs from the night before, heavy rains throughout the night washed out Saturday’s competition.

As the sun set over the Kickapoo pitch Tuesday night, the soccer action became quite intense. The Parkview junior varsity played a close game with Kickapoo’s JV, before yielding the field to the PHS varsity. The first half began and PHS went on the attack immediately. The Vikings dominated play for most of the 1st 40 minutes and created several scoring opportunities, a couple that were quite close to ending up in the net. After a very well played half, the teams left the field with the score tied 0-0.

A near capacity crowd turned out for the evening of soccer and the Parkview area was quite crowded, with a large contingent of students, mostly decked out in green and gold. The cheering section stayed quite loud in the 2nd half, even after Kickapoo scored a goal about 3 minutes in. The Vikings kept battling but had less success after that goal. The Chiefs scored their 2nd goal about 10 minutes into the half. Neither team was able to put the ball in the net after that point in the game, as it ended in a 2-0 Kickapoo victory. The PHS JV also fell by a 2-0 score.

The spirited evening drew to a close with the PHS student cheering section singing the Viking school song.

[posted by guest Web contributor Steve Brooks]