Soccer coach Mike Hines says his Tigers played their best 40 minutes of the year in the second half Monday night against Rogersville. But it wasn’t enough to overcome a 3-0 halftime deficit, as the Tigers ended their season in a 3-2 loss in the district semifinals at Willard.
Hines says his team played well in the first half except for a couple of breakdowns that led to Rogersville scores.
“We just passed the ball to their best player twice, and he just took it in and scored. I don’t think we were playing with the energy that we needed to, but we were playing fine,” Hines says. “Tucker Brown’s a good player, and you give him a couple of opportunities, he’s going to bury it.”
At halftime, Hines told the Tigers they would start getting bounces if they continued to fight, and they came out strong to get back in the game. Mitchell Heinzler scored three minutes into the second half, and Julio Quezada scored two minutes later to cut the deficit to 3-2. From there, Republic got numerous chances to tie, but could never convert.
“We completely dominated the second half. Our keeper touched the ball one time,” says Hines. “They didn’t have a shot. They didn’t have a corner. I think we had eight corners. We cracked the crossbar. We played with heart, and we fought back, and we never quit. That’s the way I want to remember this team.”
Republic ends its season at 11-11, the first time the team has finished at .500 in its four years. Hines says he sees improvement beyond the win-loss record.
“There’s a lot of things we did in the season that were more significant than our final record,” Hines says. “The fact that we scored as many goals as we did. We had a nice win streak that we’ve never had before. Those are the kinds of things that I’ll remember.”
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