The Vikings played some of their best soccer Saturday night, but ultimately fell to the Tigers 3-1 on two late Ozark goals.  Ozark led 1-0 at half but a strong Parkview goal by Brian Otradovec early in the second half tied the game.  It stayed that way until minute 78 when Ozark scored to take the lead.  Ozark also got an insurance goal with about 3 minutes to go in the game.  A group of 12 Viking players played a hard and selfless game, logging almost all playing time: Evin Barber, Joe Fairchild, Jon Bogue, Austin Hess, T.J. Joy, Shane Maloney, Jim Smart, Alex Blanco, Louis Taylor, Blake White, Jordan Houseman, and Brian Otradovec.  Nice job, men!

Parkview closed out the regular season with a 4-2 victory on the road in Neosho Tuesday night. Jordan Houseman started the scoring on a nice assist from Brian Otradovec.  The second goal came on a corner kick from Blake White to Aiden Griffin, his first varsity goal!  The game seemed well in hand, but Neosho narrowed the lead to 2-1 before half-time, and then scored the first goal of the second half to knot the game at 2-2. Parkview then upped the intensity for the remaining 20 minutes of the game, dominating possession and getting two late goals, one from Otradovec and one from Houseman with 2:43 left to seal the victory.  This win left the Vikings with a regular season record of 11-12, which is two more wins than was achieved last year.  The junior varsity squad tied Neosho 1-1.  Alex Holden scored for the Vikings who gave up a late goal after leaving two of their opponent’s players uncovered in front of the goal.  The next game for the Varsity is Saturday night at Cooper where the Vikings are paired against Ozark in the first round of district play.  Go Vikings–leave it all on the field and bring home a win.

In what was surely the low point of the Nurnberg era at Parkview, Glendale skunked the Vikings 10-0 on their home field.  Despite the final score, the Vikings played with heart the entire game. Down 9-0 with 23 minutes left in the second half, the Vikings played a solid 20 minutes before surrendering the final goal.  Your fans and families are proud of that effort.  The junior varsity fared somewhat better, losing 2-1 on a late second half goal.  Tyler Farquhar had the lone Parkview score on a nice assist from Ben Choats.

Up 2-0 at half on goals by Brian Oradovec and Louis Taylor, Parkview pulled away to score six more goals for an easy win on the road in Lebanon.  Otradovec (2), Taylor, Blake White, Alex Blanco, and Taylor Shive all scored for the Vikings in the second half.  The most impressive goal of the night came on a great pass from the corner by Otradovec to Blanco in front of the net who pounded it home. Shane Maloney had a very strong game on defense after getting the starting nod from Coach Nurnberg.  The Vikings are now 10-11 with an important game at Glendale on Thursday night.

In a hard fought game, Ozark prevailed 4-2 Monday night in a make-up game on the PHS grass field. Brian Otradovec scored both Viking goals on nice assists from Jordan Houseman and Louis Taylor.  Parkview’s offense looked strong in the second half with Taylor, Otradovec, Houseman, and Blake White playing up top.  Parkview had narrowed the gap to 3-2 late in the second half and seemed to have the momentum, when a catastrophic defensive breakdown put the game out of reach.  The Varsity record is now 9-11 with three regular season games to go.  The Junior Varsity lost 1-0.

On the night where Parkview recognized its senior class of Tanner Bennett, Alex Blanco, Tyler Farquhar, Austin Hess, Jordan Houseman, Jim Smart, and Blake White, the Vikings played a very strong game, but lost 3-2 to Camdenton on a free kick with 30 seconds to go in the game.  Blake White and Louis Taylor scored for the Vikings who played with much more heart and energy than they did over the weekend. These seven seniors, six of whom played four years for Coach Nurnberg, will be greatly missed.

After being shut out for the second straight game, this time to 1A Greenwood 3-0, the Vikings rebounded for a 6-0 victory against a struggling Republic team playing in their first year of high school soccer. Brian Otradovec had a hat trick, Louis Taylor had a goal and two assists, and T.J. Joy and Tyler Farquhar scored their first goals of the year.  Blake White and Jim Smart each also had an assist. The Vikings are now 9-9 on the year and 3-3 in conference with five games left before district play begins.  One of those games should be a win and one will be very tough, with three toss up games.  Let’s finish strong boys, beginning with the senior night game against Camdenton Tuesday.  Winning records for the season and in conference are still within reach if you play hard and together.