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Seward County made its 2024 debut this past Sunday and once again stepped on the home field for a tough match-up against Kansas City Kansas, where the Saints held strong with the Blue Devils through all 90 minutes of action and had a chance late in the final minute to put themselves on the board, but could not connect as they finished with a 0-0 result in their KJCCC opener.
The SCCC Saints and KCK were in a constant battle through the first 10 minutes as they both fought for a chance at the first shot of the game which ended up being taken by Javier Ruchelli Alvarez which was on goal but just a little too close to the opposing goalkeeper who made the save and kept the Saints scoreless with 17 minutes to go in the half. Both sides remained blank on the board with 10 minutes to go when Seward County found some momentum on their side and took a flurry of shot attempts led by Leonardo Leitao and Matheus Ambrozio who both found open space but could not connect for a score as the two Jayhawk rivals entered the break deadlocked at 0-0.
Out of the break the two teams continued their physical match-up with one another as KCK made their way down the field, where they were able to launch a few shots of their own but were stopped in their tracks by reigning KJCCC Goalkeeper of the Week Bruno Mestres.
Time kept running down on the clock and with it the opportunities for the Saints to capitalize. Alexander Stevens-Lee executed a perfect dime up field to push the pace for SCCC, where the Saints barraged the Blue Devils’ defenders as the trio of Leitao, Chad Haynes, and Leonardo Anez all took a shot attempt to put Seward County on the board but all landed just outside.
In the final minute of action a glimmer of hope appeared, with Ruchelli Alvarez leading the way and slicing through his opponents along the way as he found enough open space to send off a final shot attempt, but was just a little high as the horn sounded and wrapped up the game with a 0-0 tie between the Saints and Blue Devils.
Seward County improved their offensive output with 13 total shot attempts for the Saints led by four total shots from Leitao and three from Ruchelli Alvarez with two landing on goal.
Mestres was once again a human wall to protect the goal with six saves through all 90 minutes of action and a perfect save percentage along with it.
Seward sits at 0-1-1 on the 2024 campaign and 0-0-1 in conference action. The Saints will look to their next match-up of the year when they host Lamar at 3 p.m. Sunday at Redskin Field.
