Hazelwood West Wins 1-0 Soccer Thriller Against Parkway West

BALLWIN – senior Jeff Cameron is already considered one of the most dynamic scorers in all of St. Louis boys varsity soccer.

This past Tuesday though, Cameron added to his growing legend with a brilliant first hald performance of speedy runs and thrilling scoring chances that helped push the Wildcats to a scintillating 1-0 win over host Parkway West at Longhorn Stadium.

“I was giving it my all for sure,” Cameron said following the Wildcat victory. “Unfortunately, I’ve been in a little slump lately. I haven’t been scoring as many as I should. Hopefully, that first one will get me going a little bit.”

It certainly got Hazelwood West going. Cameron finished off a brilliant run by teammate and fellow senior Luke Promaroli, with 17 minutes left in the first half, for the only goal of the game.

Promaroli found a seam up the left flank and broke past two Parkway West defenders to get to the ball.

Then after a sharp move to his right, he slid a pass underneath Longhorn goalkeeper Johnny Galvin that rolled all the way to the left corner of Parkway West’s net.

Cameron, who started out 35-40 yards away from the play, outran every other player on the field to the ball, and slammed into the net to give the Wildcats their 1-0 edge.

“I just saw Luke keep going and I start running,” Cameron said. “I’m kinda fast, so I knew I’d get there first. Luke made a great play, I just finished it.”

And that incredible effort by both players proved to be enough, as Hazelwood West held off Parkway West for the rest of the first half and the entire second half to pick up its second win of the season.

The Wildcats got their first win of the new season with a 2-0 effort against Washington (MO) on Monda.

“We didn’t play very good in our first game,” said Hazelwood West head coach Jason Sellers. “But these last two days have been better. We’re still a little sloppy. We’ve got some stuff we need to work on.”

One thing the Wildcats should work on is finding more ways to get Cameron chances, especially if he continues to make some of the brilliant plays he made on Tuesday.

Early in the game, he set up Promaroli for a booming shot that hit the right post.

There were at least two occasions when Cameron broke in free on the Parkway West goal, but the plays were nullified on question offsides calls.

And just after he scored the goal, Cameron nearly made an unbelievable highlight reel-type play when he bicycle-kicked a blast that froze Galvin and would’ve given Hazelwood West a 2-0 edge, but the shot hit the crossbar and bounced away.

“He’s definitely dynamic,” Sellers said. “He was on the 10 players to watch list and there’s a reason for it. He’s an unbelievable talent.”

The goal he did get was Cameron’s first this season, and 31st of his Wildcat career.   

Senior Nick Ehlers got the win and second shutout of the season for Hazelwood West, which will be in action again, Wednesday, when the Wildcats will play Ritenour High School, at the Ritenour Soccer Center on St. Charles Rock Road in Woodson Terrace.

Kickoff that day is set for 4 p.m.

Hazelwood West’s first home game this season will be two days later on Friday, when the Wildcats will host MICDS at 4:15 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

Parkway West

0

    0

 --

0

Hazelwood West

1

    0

 --

1

First Half

HW: Jeff Cameron – 1st (assisted by Luke Promaroli) – 17:20

Second Half

No scoring