It seemed destined to be a night of near-misses for the Republic Lady Tigers at Carthage Tuesday, until Jocelyn Carpenter broke through the defense, corralled the rebound off her own shot, and fired the ball into the left side of the net to give Republic a lead it would never relinquish in a 3-0 victory.
For the first 36 minutes, goalkeeper Emily Robertson had turned away shot after shot by the Lady Tigers, including several good scoring chances by Carpenter.
After Robertson went out with a shoulder injury at halftime, sophomore Natalie Hitchcock stepped in and continued the solid defensive effort, coming up with several saves to keep Carthage within a goal. Eventually, Republic took advantage of its near-constant ball possession, with Lesleigh Fenton scoring to make the lead 2-0. Another goal by Carpenter put the game away and accounted for the final score.
Coach Mike Hines says he was pleased with the performance in the first half, even though his Lady Tigers managed just one goal.
“Their keeper made some saves. We were going into the wind. The grass is really tall. It’s pockmarked. There was no consistency for our passes. Sometimes it just doesn’t work right, but we played well,” Hines says. “We had possession. Overall, I’m very pleased with the first half.”
After grabbing the lead going into halftime, Hines says the Lady Tigers intended to wear down Carthage in the second half.
“Lesleigh Fenton played three positions tonight: she played center back, center mid, and forward. She’s hard to handle,” Hines says. “Jocelyn worked her tail off. It might have been the most complete hustle game she’s had all season.
“Emily Jordan keeps coming at you. Then they started getting chippy with us, and we knew when that happens, we usually get one in, and that’s what happened.”
Republic improves to 5-1 6-1 this season. The Lady Tigers return to action Friday for the start of the weekend Ozark Lady Tiger Shootout.
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