Bear’s boys soccer ends regular season with 7-0 record

Byron’s boys soccer team finished the week with two very close but key wins over visiting Pine Island/Zumbrota/Mazeppa and away at Stewartville. The two wins closed out the Hiawatha Valley League schedule with a perfect 7-0 record and their second consecutive HVL Conference title.
First up was a very key contest with visiting PIZM on Monday night. While the Bears were unbeaten, PIZM was a half-game behind as they had tied Lourdes earlier in the year. Whoever won this game would be in the driver’s seat to win the conference.
The match was played at a very high level by both teams and penetrating the defense was difficult for each side.  The game was scoreless until the 37th minute when PIZM’s Drew Christopherson broke the Byron line and buried one into the right corner. Dan Mikaeo assisted on the score. The score held through the half and it was Mikaeo who tacked on another PIZM goal 10 minutes into the second half to make it 2-0. 
Finally, with 19 minutes to play, a Byron attacker was pulled down inside the PIZM penalty area and Cam Schmit converted the ensuring penalty kick to make it 2-1. With 12 minutes to play, Byron captain Bradley Pavon took a Schmit feed and cut into the left side and cross slotted the net for the equalizer.  With only three minutes left to play, Pavon took a straight bull run and found pay dirt for the go-ahead goal that led to the victory. 
The game was played at a very high level by both teams and had all the excitement of a title game. 
Byron Coach Dave Bahr was very complimentary of the entire team having the fortitude to mount a comeback from a deep hole and come out on top. Caleb Koza made two saves in the win.
Byron then traveled to Stewartville for the final conference game on Thursday. Byron struck early when fullback Wesley Felten went on a run in from the left side and found the net five minutes in. Five minutes later, Sam Pompeii played a ball back to Cam Schmit who also found the back of the goal for a 2-0 lead.  At the 25-minute mark, Garett Johnson took a long throw in by Drew Scheuer and hit it home to go up 3-0. 
Then Stewartville got going with Connor Kropp taking a Keegan Zelinske corner kick and heading it past the goalkeeper and then Brady Pickett got in behind the Byron back line and added another to bring the game to 3-2. 
Despite spirited play from both teams, that was the end of the scoring and the game ended 3-2 for Byron.  Caleb Koza made four saves and Brad Miller made two in the win.