Olathe United Settles for Draw Against Woodland FC in Hard-Fought Battle

First place Olathe United faced off against perennial power and 2nd place team, Woodland FC on a sweltering hot Friday evening at Stump Park in Shawnee. This highly anticipated contest saw both teams missing some key players due to injury but the game lived up to the hype as both teams put their best foot forward and delivered quality performances.

The first 5 to 10 minutes saw possession dominated by Olathe United before Woodland settled into the game. After that, the match became a back-and-forth affair with Olathe attempting to possess through the middle third and final third and Woodland quickly countering against Olathe's high line when winning the ball back. Olathe found some success down their left side with winger, Byran Moran finding himself one-on-one the Woodland defender that led to shots but none that truly tested the keeper. The back and forth continued until the XX minute when Woodland countered quickly down their left side. One of their midfielders drifted out wide and received the ball at the corner of the 18. Dribbling towards the endline, he shot from a very difficult angle and snuck the ball in at the near post with a quick shot to give Woodland the 1-0 lead which they took into halftime.

Olathe started the second half with a quick attack that led to a difficult save for the Woodland keeper. However, Woodland would score again 5 minutes into the half on a quick change of field counter where their left wing dribbled into the final third and found their right winger who made a diagonal run on the backside and one-touched the ball into the corner of the net. Finding themselves down by two goals for the first time of the 2025 season was a new experience for the boys but they turned up the intensity and played some great soccer for the remaining 40 minutes. They finally got on the scoreboard with a goal very similar to Woodland's first goal. Winger Bryan Moran beat his defender at the top of the 18 and was pushed out wide. He took a shot from a very difficult angle and snuck it in at the near post to cut the lead in half with XX minutes still remaining. Woodland focused on defending to protect their lead while Olathe had no choice but to attack and try for the equalizer. Olathe made 4 subs to get some fresh legs into the game which would pay dividends. Olathe had several opportunities for the equalizer where shots went just wide. Finally, in the XX minute, midfielder Andrew Porter shot from close range which was parried away by the Woodland goalkeeper into the feet of crashing winger, Andrew Ward who punched it home from 2 yards out to tie the game in the 89th minute. The final 7 minutes of stoppage time saw Olathe pushing for the winning goal. Their best opportunity was when midfielder, Noah Conover was able to get behind the back line on the left hand side and with a defender on his back get off a shot that the Woodland keeper did a great job of coming out and making a body save. The hard-fought contest ended in a 2-2 draw.

After the game, we caught up with Olathe United coach, Todd Esh. "This was a great game by two very good clubs. We knew that coming into this game that it is extremely difficult to beat a quality team three times in one season. Woodland was the best team in the league last year and they are right behind us in the table this year. We know we have a bullseye on our back this year due to being in first place and that makes for really good games. I think the heat and the grass field definitely affected how sharp we were, but both teams had to deal with those conditions. We did a good job of finding our 9 for parts of the game but I still think we can do better. Woodland did a really good job countering by switching fields with the long ball and sending the long ball over the top. I was very happy to see how the boys responded when down by two goals as that has not happened this year. They kept their composure and didn't panic. I thought Bryan Moran had a great game on the left wing. He is a really good player and is only going to get better as he heads off to college later this summer. He is big, fast and very shifty for a player his size. He is a fun player to watch. In my opinion, ties never feel like a win and some ties feel like a loss. However, I thought this result was deserved by both teams today. The fans that attended this game saw a really good soccer game by the two league leaders."