Olathe United Starts Fast, Holds Off Leawood Forest

April 12, 2025:

An undermanned Olathe United started fast by scoring 4 goals in the first half and holding off Leawood Forest to win by a final score of 5-2 on a windy night at Maranatha Christian Academy.

Olathe scored on 3 quick goals in the 12th, 14th and 15th minute. Max Leiker got the home team on the scoreboard first with a goal after a nice pass from striker, Luca Porter. 2 minutes later, Andrew Ward slipped a through ball down the right side that Porter hammered home. Max Leiker returned the favor to Porter 1 minute after that with a nice give and go that Porter calmly finished. Porter completed his first half hat-trick in the 32nd minute when Ward again found Porter cutting across the box and Porter calmly finished.

OU played into a strong headwind in the second half and with no subs, the heavy legs started to show. Leawood Forest scored in thh 51st and 58th minute to make the game 4-2. OU got one of those back when in the 65th minute, left winger Jace St. Peter crossed the ball to an open Lucas Porter on the back-side and he calmly finished from a difficult angle to make the final score 5-2.

After the game, we caught up with Coach Todd Esh: "We played really well in the first half and really sloppy in the second half. It is still early in season and we are still figuring each other out. Having no subs tonight hurt us as a lot of our college players are wrapping up their seasons. Some of this group also had a game today and tired legs definitely played a factor. We had much better communication and spacing across the field tonight, especially in the first half. We didn't switch fields as quickly as I would have liked but every game is an opportunity to get to know each other. The nice thing about this team is that even though they won, they weren't real happy with their performance after the game. They have high standards, are willing to put in the work and it is always fun to coach a team like that".