COFFEYVILLE — In a battle of the top two soccer teams in the Southeast Kansas League from a year ago, Coffeyville-Field Kindley slipped past defending champion Pittsburg 1-0 in a pivotal showdown Thursday evening at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
“It was a war of a game,” said Golden Tornado coach Courey Feerer. “The team dug deep and really showed a lot of character tonight. It was an all out team effort.”
Coffeyville — which began a five-match homestand — has now won five straight games to improve to 5-1-1 overall and 2-0-1 in Southeast Kansas League action. The Golden Tornado were coming off a thrilling 2-1 victory at Montgomery County rival Independence on Tuesday. Prior to that, they captured the Arkansas City Invitational championship with wins over Mulvane, Augusta and Arkansas City. They will step out of league play on Sept. 26 when they entertain Columbus.
As for Pittsburg, which went 7-0-1 in league play a year ago en route to the title, it dropped to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the SEK with Thursday’s setback. The Purple Dragons will remain in league action on Tuesday, Sept. 24, when it travels to Fort Scott.
The teams were locked in a battle throughout the contest, with the lone goal coming in the 25th minute. Nick Slavin found Tate Thornburg in the middle, and Thornburg tucked the ball away for the one-goal lead with 15:55 left in the first half.
That goal would stand up the rest of the way for the ‘Nado, who dropped both games to the Purple Dragons a year ago.
Thornburg has been a force for the Golden Tornado so far this season. In addition to Thursday’s game-winning goal, he also recorded both goals in the team’s 2-1 victory at Independence on Tuesday, including the eventual game-winner with 1:59 to go.
The rematch between the Golden Tornado and Purple Dragons will be Oct. 10 in Pittsburg.