The Lindbergh Flyers soccer team is in the Final Four.
The Flyers avenged an early-season loss to CBC on Saturday, Nov. 11, defeating the Cadets, 3-0, in the Class 4 state quarterfinal. The win moved Lindbergh, 22-5, to the state semifinal on Friday, Nov. 17. The Flyers were set to take on Park Hill South, 19-2-1, at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton – after The Call went to press.
While it can be difficult to face a team twice in a season, Lindbergh head soccer coach Mark Giesing said he didn’t put a whole lot of stock in the early season loss to CBC.
“Our first matchup was early in the season with both teams still finding themselves,” Giesing said. “I think it is always a challenge to beat a team twice in a season at this level of play.”
Lindbergh came out firing early in the game as junior Ado Keranovic connected on a 20-yard shot that went into the upper right corner of the net to give Lindbergh a 1-0 lead.
Giesing said it was one of the better goals that the Flyers had scored all season and was critical for his team to get on the board early.
“We felt going in that the first goal would be critical and it proved to be that way,” he said. “Ado hit a laser, no doubt one of our best goals of the year. He had been hitting them like that all week in practice and we have been encouraging him to shoot more in games.”
CBC had opportunities in the first half, but LHS goalie Camden Cochran came up with some huge saves. Cochran was huge for Lindbergh all day long.
“I’ve been fortunate to watch Camden play goalie since he was a little boy,” Giesing said. “His development as a goalie has been outstanding. I believe he is currently one of the top goalies in the state.”
In the second half, Lindbergh took a commanding 2-0 lead when Luke Giesing intercepted a mis-hit ball and connected on the goal as the goalkeeper was out of position. This goal seemed to change the tide of the game at that point.
“The second goal did seem to really change the momentum of the game,” Giesing said. “CBC rightfully felt they were fully in it up to that point. It was critical because the time right before it you could sense CBC was climbing back into the game and I think it’s often hard to mentally rebound when you get scored on after performing so well.”
Kellen Douglas, the leading scorer for Lindbergh, put the proverbial nail in the coffin with 25 minutes to play when he made it 3-0.
Giesing said his team was extremely focused throughout the week, resulting in an outstanding performance against the Cadets.
“We knew that to be successful we had to outwork our opponent and that was a focus of training all week,” he said. “The advantage of training on our big field also helped because many teams take time to adapt to the width.”
Up next is Park Hills South, who defeated Rock Bridge, 2-0 to make it to the semifinals.
“To my knowledge, we have never faced each other,” Giesing said. “I’ve been watching film all weekend and I think it will be an entertaining game. Like us, they focus on possession and building out from the back. Once again, I think we will have to emphasize our work rate to beat them.”
While the win over CBC is huge for the Lindbergh program, which hasn’t appeared in the state semifinals since 2019, it was easy to see at the end of the game that the Flyers know there is still work to be done.
“If you watch our post-game celebration, it says it all,” Giesing said. “We quickly and briefly celebrated the win and immediately went over to thank CBC for a hard-fought game and to console our friends on that team. The focus is a state title. The boys know there is work yet to be done and, while we were pleased with the win, the appetite is there for more.”