The Lady Tigers soccer team started pre-season conditioning in January this year — earlier than ever. Monday night’s game at Springfield Central was the kind of match when that dedication pays off.
Jocelyn Carpenter fed Lesleigh Fenton with a pass late in the second overtime period, Fenton blew past her defender to take a shot, and Emily Jordan was there to bury the rebound in the back of the net for a 3-2 sudden-death victory.
“Luckily we did two months of preseason, so we had more gas on that last breakthrough,” says Fenton. “I shot and the keeper made an awesome save, and Emily was there.”
Jordan was sprinting down the left side of the field as Fenton took the ball down the right, putting her in position for the game-winning goal.
“I’m thinking ‘Lesleigh, come on, come on, we need this!’ I saw she had that girl beat. I thought if she doesn’t make it, I’ll be there for the finish, if possible. The goalie did make a great save, but thanks to preseason, we were there to finish it. We had the gas.”
The victory improved Republic’s record to 4-0, but it wasn’t as easy as the first three. The Lady Tigers had to come from behind twice in the second half.
Neither team scored in the first half, but Central broke on the board first. Jocelyn Carpenter answered 15 minutes into the second half, putting the ball into the lower right corner of the net for a 1-1 tie.
After Central went ahead again, Jordan scored her first goal on a free kick from about 40 yards out that inexplicably rolled slowly past the Central defense and into the net.
