Platte County finds footing, closes 3-game homestand with back-to-back wins

Looking to finish out a three-game homestand with a positive result, innocent bad luck dominated the opening sequences and kept the proceedings deceptively close.

Platte County continued to create offensive pressure, and a well-timed connection between the attacking midfield combo of junior Ryan Waldman and senior Cameron Habel provided a well-deserved lead. The Pirates ultimately came away with a 2-0 victory over Central (St. Joseph) on Thursday night at Pirate Stadium.

Patience paid off after three Platte County shots in the first half caromed back off the crossbar while the defense recorded the first cleansheet of the season. The Pirates have now won back-to-back games after a tough start and improved to 3-5 overall on the season.

“As always, you just keep playing, and once we got ours, we just kept going,” Habel said.

Habel’s goal came in the 24th minute, and the 1-0 lead held until the latter part of the second half.

Central (2-4) forced Platte County sophomore goalkeeper Jack Girdner, a first-year starter, into nine saves but didn’t produce the same amount of clear-cut chances. However, the Pirates were forced to protect the one-goal advantage until the 65th minute when senior midfielder Chaz Cox beat a defender down the left sideline before tip-toeing down the end line inside the 18-yard box and squaring a cross in front of net.

The ball found Platte County freshman Elijah Smith, who punched a right-footed shot into the lower right corner to put the Pirates ahead 2-0.

“It’s huge to get that second goal, and getting the young guys into the goal scoring gets them a lot of confidence and really helps them build into the team,” Habel said.

Platte County continued to plumb the depths of the roster while playing a third game in a span of four days and still looking for preferred combinations in the midfield and up top. Habel, Waldman and senior Thien Nguyen continue to provide the main support to junior forward Camden Noller, who scored his first goal of the season in a 5-1 victory over Raytown the night before. The Pirates also started senior Ian Mathews as the defensive midfielder to encouraging early results.

In the seventh minute, Waldman stung the crossbar with a shot from the left wing at an awkward angle, and moments later, Noller and Habel worked a give-and-go that also nearly resulted in a Platte County goal. Habel took a shot that ended up straight at Central junior goalkeeper Michael Turley, who managed to parry the ball up and off the crossbar to keep the game level at 0-0.

The breakthrough came in the 24th minute when Waldman sent a probing angled long ball over the top of Central’s defense with Habel ending up in a clear-cut one-on-one chance with Turley. This time, he calmly slotted home low and to the left.

“It’s always great to get a good ball like that,” Habel said. “Me and him, we’ve got that chemistry from last year, so we’re always looking for each other and it was nice to hit that.”

Platte County nearly doubled the advantage right before halftime with Mathews blistering a right-footed shot from distance off the underside of the crossbar and coming back out.

Central cleared the danger and went into halftime down 1-0. Shortly after the break, Habel created two more chances for Platte County. Central junior goalkeeper Maikol Hernandez, who played the entire second half, punching a shot away and just wide left. He then came off his line to slide the ball away before allowing Habel to get off a shot.

Hernandez’s five saves also included stoning a shot from Noller that ended up too straight, while a recovering Central defender deflected out another of his shots that looked like a sure goal in the 51st minute.

“Definitely felt like we had that solution today to find a goal,” Habel said. “You don’t get them sometimes, and sometimes you do so you just keep hitting them until they go in.”

Girdner’s biggest moment came in the first half in the 20th minute, shortly before Habel’s opener.

Forced off the goal line, Girdner slid a ball away but failed to fully clear the danger, and Central junior midfielder Rifath Lian almost immediately sent a shot back in. Girdner dove well to his right to push the ball away in what was a scoreless game that point. He added a key save early in the second half to keep Platte County’s 1-0 lead, and the Pirates were able to keep the shutout, having allowed at least one goal in each of the first seven games.

Platte County continued to start senior Wally Baldwin and sophomore Kai James-Gallimore in the center of defense with senior Westin Summers (right) and sophomore Sawyer Sullins (left) on the outside. James-Gallimore moved inside after being a right back most of his freshman season to pair up with Baldwin, a second-year starter, while Sullins takes on a bigger role after being a contributor as a freshman.

Summers has seen his first significant addition.

“Jack has had some good games this year, some bad games but he’s really starting to come into his own,” Habel said. “That backline’s starting to really gel, so we look good for the rest of the season.”

Platte County put more than 20 players on the pitch against Central with senior Abe Norman spelling Mathews and providing significant depth in the midfield, while sophomore Kaden Roy continues to serve as a strong change-of-pace option at forward. The Pirates have used the busy schedule as a chance to experiment with a roster having undergone significant turnover but still having notable experience at most positions.

Platte County 5, Raytown 1

The Pirates scored five unanswered after ceding the opener in Wednesday’s Suburban Conference White Division matchup at Pirate Stadium.

Roy tallied the go-ahead goal and then added his second before halftime to send Platte County into halftime up 3-1. Noller extended the advantage in the 65th minute on a cross from Habel, his second assist of the game, before he put the finishing touches on the victory with a breakaway goal in the 70th minute.

Raytown took the 1-0 lead after just 2 minutes, but Girdner finished with six saves.

Platte County answered back in the fourth minute with Noller finding Smith with a cross for a tap-in to level the score at 1-1. That marked Smith’s first career goal before he added another the next night against Central.

Habel set up Roy’s first goal in the 33rd minute, while senior midfielder Jacob Hein assisted on the second, which came less than a minute later.

Platte County earned the first conference victory of the season and now sits at a 1-2 in White Division play. The Pirates entered off back-to-back losses to Fort Osage the prior week and Truman on Monday night.

Truman recorded a 3-0 shutout with Girdner making 11 saves. Platte County recorded just one shot on target, four days after losing an early lead in a 3-2 loss to Fort Osage.