Olathe United Remains Unbeaten With 3-0 Victory Against Real Overland Park

Back Row: Andrew Porter, Jace St. Peter, Parker Hurla, Simon Esh, Khary Hasam, Front Rów: Dylan Traudt, Max Leiker, Noah Conover, Andrew Ward, Ryan Lytton

Olathe United remained unbeaten with a 3-0 victory against a pesky Real Overland Park team despite playing down a man for the last 25 minutes of the game due to a red card on an OU defender for a handball in the penalty box.

Olathe United got on the board first with some nice play down the right hand side when defender, Simon Esh played a through ball down the right side which was gathered by midfielder, Noah Conover who sent a chip across the box that was neatly headed into the goal by striker, Parker Hurla. The visitors would get on the scoreboard again when in the 23rd minute, striker Andrew Ward made a nice pass from the right side that midfielder, Max Leiker gathered and shot, hitting the bottom of the crossbar and going in.

The second half started with several chances but without any finishing for the visitors. In the 65th minute, a through ball split the defenders and forced the OU keeper, Shadrach Jaeger to come out and shut down the angle. The Real OP striker took a heavy touch to the right side which allowed the OU defender to cut off the goal. The shot towards goal hit the thigh and hand of the defender which was deemed unnatural and a penalty kick was given to the home team. GK Shadrach Jaeger made a huge dive to his left and just got his hands on the PK to push it wide, preventing Real OP from getting any momentum. The rest of the half, OU played a man down due to the red card. OU was able to score again in the 85th minute when Andrew Ward found midfielder Max Leiker for a second time, this time on a through ball against the high line the Real OP defense was playing and Leiker calmly finished. Olathe United is now undefeated with 5 wins during the 2025 campaign.

Coach Esh's comments after the game: "We played a really good game at times and at other times, we were sloppy. We had our second clean sheet in a row and that is huge. We are really defending well as a team, covering for each other and really taking offenses out of their comfort zone. We did have some better passing in the final third and that is encouraging. I thought overall, we were a little more patient. This was the smallest field that we played on and that definitely helps a team that is willing to bunker. Shadrach's PK save was huge. If they convert that, they are only down 2-1 with 25 minutes left while we are a man down. Huge, huge save by Shad. This team is winning games in many different ways with many different goal scorers and that bodes well for the rest of the season."

Olathe United's next game is Saturday, May 3rd vs Lenexa at Maranatha Christian Academy at 7PM.