Allen Community College had little trouble improving to 2-0 in Jayhawk Conference play Wednesday.
The Red Devil women dominated visiting Pratt from the start, rattling off five goals in the game’s first 42 minutes, fired a mind-boggling 18 shots on goal and played almost the entirety of the game on Pratt’s side of the field.
“But you get a win like that, and you ask yourself, ‘Why am I not feeling better?’” Allen head coach Jeremy McGinnis said. “We left a lot of stuff out there. We didn’t finish the second half while they were down.”
While that didn’t matter a whit against Pratt, McGinnis said Allen must up its level of play considerably when the Red Devils visit No. 3-ranked Johnson County Saturday.
“Johnson is very, very good, and we’re still not playing at the level we need to be,” he said. “We still have a few more things to work on defensively. It’ll be difficult.”
THERE WAS a time in the not-so-distant past that Pratt also offered such a challenge.
But after a series of coaching changes — Pratt has had three head coaches since early spring — the Beavers are struggling just to fill their roster, McGinnis noted.
In fact, one player improperly ran onto the pitch late in the game without checking in. As McGinnis pointed out the matter to the referee, the Pratt player admitted she hadn’t played soccer before.
Therein was his biggest worry after Wednesday’s blowout.
“You start playing down to their level,” he said.
Audrey Smith rifled in a shot in the 15th minute before Camila Maldonado made it 2-0 on an unassisted goal 10 minutes later.
Smith scored off Hanna Veira’s assist at the 30-minute mark, but exited a few minutes later after colliding with a Pratt defender as she narrowly missed another goal.
McGinnis opted to keep his leading scorer on the sidelines for the rest of the game, even though she showed few, if any, ill effects while cheering on her teammates from the sideline.
“At 5-0, why risk it?” he asked.
The Red Devils responded quickly, even without Smith in the lineup.
