By: Jake Boeding

            As a North Kansas City Hornet soccer player crosses a defender, Oak Park’s goalie, Matt Ebinger, focuses in and watches as the NKC player takes a shot at the goal.  Ebinger back pedals and back pedals.  When the time is right, he leaps up into the air, tips the ball over the net and prevents a Hornet’s goal.  All the OP soccer fans, moms and dads go crazy after the impressive display.  Ebinger gets up, brushes the turf off his legs and then prepares for the next time when he will stop at nothing to prevent the soccer ball from coming into his goal.  And all this was as the one and he’s only a freshman on varsity.

            “It feels great knowing I accomplished something no one else my age could do,” Ebinger said.  “A lot of hard work paid off getting me to where I am today.”

            Ebinger put in a lot of hard work to overcome adversity.

            “Well, I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus, so I was out for my whole eighth grade season, which made me work even harder to get back into it.”

            Ebinger still has a lot of experience with soccer.

            “I’ve been playing soccer since kindergarten in the Happy Rock League when my dad was my coach.  I didn’t start playing keeper until second grade.  I thought it would be cool to be the only guy on the field who could use his hands,” Ebinger said.  “I treated it like a joke at first, but then I found out that I was really good at playing keeper, and I’ve played there ever since.  I also started playing indoor soccer and club soccer in third grade when I was playing in a competitive league, and it helped make me a better soccer player.”

            All the years of hard work paid off when Ebinger participated in the Olathe Invitational.

            Derek Noll, head soccer coach, said, “At the beginning of the year, we decided to take Matt with us to a tournament in Olathe to let him see what varsity soccer looked like.  We knew he was a talented goalkeeper, and he got an opportunity to play in that tournament.  After seeing his performances in those games, we made him a full time member of the varsity team.”

            Noll talked of why the coaching staff made that choice.

            “Matt’s biggest strength as a goalkeeper is his positioning,” Noll said, “He always seems to be in the right place at the right time.  He stays where he needs to be and monitors the game well.  He also plays passes that are sent back to him quickly and effectively where they need to go.”

            Ebinger had a presence in the box and knew his role on the team.

            “Being in the goalie box during a game, you have a lot of weight on your shoulders.  If the ball gets past you, you could lose the game for your team.  But, when you get a shutout, it’s a great feeling knowing you did well,” Ebinger said.

Ebinger lived that “great feeling” a lot, because he recorded 5.5 shutouts this season.  Noll appreciates Ebinger’s success as a goal keeper.

            “Matt works hard during practice.  Overall, we have been pleased with Matt’s work ethic, and his performance in goal has been consistently good,” Noll said.

            Noll isn’t the only one who was pleased with Ebinger, so was senior Kolton Eisenberger, who at the soccer banquet on Tuesday, Nov. 16, passed down his No. 8 jersey to Ebinger.

            “Matt is a real good kid, and I felt like I had a pretty decently close relationship with him.  I felt like I helped Matt with his mental toughness during games, if someone scored on him I talked to him and helped him get his head back into the game.  The jersey was originally my brother’s, then he passed it on to a goal keeper, then the goalkeeper gave it to me, and I felt it was good to give it back to another goalkeeper,” Eisenberger said.

            The jersey isn’t the only honor Ebinger received at the soccer banquet; he also received his athletic letter in soccer. Ebinger is one of only two freshmen boys, so far this year, to letter in a sport.

            “It feels great.  I’m pretty happy with myself with what I did,” Ebinger said.  “Hopefully I’ll do it again next year.”  

              In the game against NKC, the Hornets are awarded a corner kick.  The soccer ball is kicked, and, while the ball is in the air, Ebinger sees a swarm of Hornet players rushing to the goal.  All of them are potential scorers.  As one player from NKC dives and attempts to head it in, Ebinger explodes off his right leg and catches the soccer ball, right before it gets in the goal.  Ebinger then rises and punts the soccer ball to the other side of the field.  He then brushes the turf off his legs and turns around to walk back into the box. He is ready for the next time he will prevent the soccer ball from coming into his territory.  He is ready for next year.