Select indoor soccer team takes second place in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- Sikeston's Select Team did outstanding in their first indoor tournament held at Dellwood Soccer Arena in St. Louis. We competed against some of St. Louis' select select teams and played to win with good sportsmanship.

We played a total of three division games, walking away with two wins and a tie. By the end of our division games, Tyler Neal led the team with six goals, Brandon Goodwin had two goals and Josh Reed and Cody Middleton each had one goal.

You can never get a goal without an assist and Jake Reed, Paul Hughes, Caleb McCord, Aaron Neal and Noah Rains proved to be a pro at that. Chris Alley protected our goal with style, making his job look easy. We racked up a total of 25 points, which earned us a spot in the championship game. We knew the championship game was going to be tough. Our opponent won all their division games, finishing with a total of 32 points.

Our team played hard in the championship game and finished with two goals. Josh Reed scored the team's first goal and Jake Reed scored the team's second goal. We lost 5-2, but we played our best and very competitive.

Our strategy going into the championship game was simple, keep defense strong -- our opponent had racked up a total of 25 goals in three division games. We probably could've scored more goals but once they got ahead of us by two goals, all we wanted the team to do was focus more on defense. This team could've blown us away but we challenged their offense and we were the only team to score against them.

The team's next tournament will be in February at the Webster Groves Soccerdome in St. Louis. The boys are very excited and plan to have another successful tournament.