No matter what sport, every athlete has to experience losing at some point. However, how one handles this adversity is what can make or break their future. Some become discouraged, make excuses, or even quit, but the best competitors, like the Westminster boys soccer players, learn from these losses and use them to prepare for the future, building on their weaknesses to become better athletes and human beings.

The soccer team dominated the first round of districts on November 2nd, mercy-ruling St. Clair eight to zero. Goals were scored by Caden Collison, freshman, Ben Van Zee, senior, Jacob Park, junior, Andrew Smith, senior, Jack Lemp, junior, Tyler Hottm, sophomore, and Luke Laughlin, senior, who scored twice.

In the next and final round of districts on November 4th, however, the Cats fell to MICDS, a team that they had beaten one to zero in the beginning of the season, in an intense battle to the very last second. Westminster was up one to zero with 35 seconds left in the game when an MICDS player shot, missed, and watched it fly out of bounds. However, the referee claimed that there was a deflection from the Cats before it went out of bounds, allowing the Rams to receive a corner kick and score off of it, extending the game to overtime with a score of one to one.

“We asked the ref who deflected it and he said that he didn’t know. We all knew that no one touched it,” said Caden Brophy, freshman.

The Cats then entered into a double overtime battle with the Rams.

“In overtime, we were feeling a little tired and angry, but we still gave it all we had until the final whistle. We kept fighting throughout both halves of overtime until there was about a minute left in the second overtime and they scored,” said Legters.

Despite the controversial loss, the boys soccer team had a solid season, ending with a record of seven wins and six losses.

Some of the key goal-scorers this season were Laughlin, with seven total goals, Van Zee, with four goals, and Smith, with four as well. As for assists, Collison ended with a total of six, Smith had four, and both Caleb Legters, junior, and Laughlin ended with three.

Two of the most important yet commonly overlooked players who made an impact this season were goalies Lincoln Chimento, senior, and Riley Heironimus, junior. Chimento ended with an impressive collection of 61 saves, or 1.61 saves per game. Heironimus had 27 saves throughout the season, or 0.8 saves per game, ranking fourth in St. Louis in save percentage with 93%.

The team was coached by Dan Legters, more commonly known as “Señor,” and Ben Collison.

“It was great to have my dad as a coach because we know each other so well and I know what he expects of me. Coach Collison was a new addition to the team, but he fit right in and we had fun with him too,” said Legters.

Overall, the Cats left everything that they had out on the field this season, and despite the disappointing loss, they look forward to the seasons to come with their relatively young roster.

“We fought hard, but it was a rough way to end, especially for the seniors. We had a special team this year and I’ll never forget the leadership of the seniors and the memories we made,” said Brophy.