Westminster Soccer Cannot Hold Back Powerful Priory

The Priory Rebels extended their season-long winning streak to eight games on Monday with a dominant 6-1 win over neighborhood-rival Westminster Christian at the new soccer field at Priory High School.

Priory, the team many consider the favorite to win the state championship in Missouri Class 1 soccer this season, looked every bit like the best team in the state, as it scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of Monday’s game, and then cruised the rest of the way for an easy victory.

“We’ve had a few games where things kind of came together for us pretty easily,” Priory head coach John Mohrmann said. “And we went on top pretty early here, but the difference was (Westminster) never stopped fighting.”

And that battling spirit helped the Wildcats score the first goal  against Priory this season, as senior Brent Stump blasted a 25-yard free kick into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they were behind 4-0 at the time, and Priory went on the score two more times before the day was done.

“That’s a great team over there,” Westminster head coach Daniel Legters said. “And we just weren’t ready to play today. And against a team like that, if you don’t show up ready to go, they’re going to jump right on you real fast. That’s what they did today.”

Leading that offensive charge for Priory was senior striker Andrew Rhodes, who had a hand in five of the Rebels’ six goals, with three goals and two assists.

Rhodes helped Priory jump out to its fast start with a goal and two assists on the Rebels’ first three scores, then after Stump’s rocket got Westminster on the board, Rhodes added two more goals in the second half, giving him a Metro Soccer League-leading seven goals this season.

“He’s a strong, powerful kid, but also a kid that works really hard out there,” Mohrmann said. “He just makes things happen. He laid up a couple of great balls out there setting up goals for other guys, and as soon as we get possession he looks to go the goal. He’s a great goal scorer.”

Teammates Sam Newman (No. 6), Peter Cogan (1), and Paul Schulz (3) also scored for Priory, which remains one of the few unbeaten teams left in the area, with an 8-0 overall record and 4-0 league mark this season.

Westminster fell to 4-5 and 1-1, and had its modest two-game winning streak snapped.

The Wildcats will look to start a new streak on Wednesday afternoon, when they’ll travel to Chesterfield to play Parkway Central in a nonconference game at PCH Stadium.

Priory will also be action on Wednesday, with a home game against league-rival John Burroughs, which is 5-2 this season.

Opening kickoff for both those Wednesday contests are set for 4:15 p.m.  

Scoring Summary

Score by Halves

F

Westminster

1

0

1

Priory

4

2

6

First Half

P: Sam Newman (6), assisted by Andrew Rhodes – 3’

P: Paul Schulz (3), assisted by Andrew Rhodes – 6’

P: Andrew Rhodes (5), assisted by Jeff Hopson – 10’

P: Peter Cogan (1), assisted by James Pieper – 25’

W: Brent Stump (4), unassisted – 28’

Second Half

P: Andrew Rhodes (6), assisted by Sam Newman – 60’

P: Andrew Rhodes (7), unassisted – 65’