Despite a wind chill in the 20s, the Lady Tigers caught fire in the second half at Rogersville. Republic scored five second-half goals to pull away on the road for a 6-0 win. It was their first victory under new head coach Kevin Hauck.
Even in the first half, when Republic got a only single goal from senior Emily Griffith (assisted by Charlotte Mikkelsen), the Lady Tigers controlled possession, keeping the pressure on Rogersville’s defense and seldom allowing Rogersville to challenge goalkeeper Jessica Laster.
Almost as soon as the second half began, Republic took control. Emily Jordan scored the first of her two goals less than five minutes into the half, firing a shot from the left side across the goal and through the hands of the Rogersville keeper. Charlotte Mikkelsen scored her first goal as a Lady Tiger a few minutes later, on the first career assist by freshman Madi Mitchell.
Jordan’s second goal, on another assist from Mikkelsen, came quickly after that. Mitchell got her first career goal on an asssist from Jordan to make it 5-0. Freshman Grace Lightfoot booted in her first goal to finish out the scoring.
“The first half, I thought we really did a good job moving the ball and we kept them on their side for most of the half and pounded against them,” says Hauck. “The second half, I thought we did a much better job of making passes around the 18 and connecting those tighter passes, but also, really just taking our shots. The first half, I thought we were a little late on taking shot opportunities. I thought we were pulling the trigger a little earlier in the second half.”
Hauck says he made an adjustment after Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to Rolla, instructing Jordan to roam sideline to sideline, making it harder for the defense to mark her and shut her down.
“Tuesday, we tried playing her in the midfield,” he says. A lot of teams are going to take her out of the game, so we came up with the plan today to try to get her moving around the field more — not just playing in the middle, but playing up top and playing, really, everywhere. Her assignment tonight was…to continue to move, so if someone was going to mark her, they would be exhausted. She did a great job of that. She was everywhere — left side; right side. She did a fantastic job of moving.”
Jordan says practice had prepared her for her more wide-ranging role in the offense Thursday night.
“I like to be involved. I like to be able to shoot, dribble pass, have the ball at my foot sometimes. It is a little difficult, especially when there are people around you at all times,” she says.
The Lady Tigers improved to 1-1. They’ll be on the road at Liberty next Tuesday.