After a 6-0 loss to Fox High School in St. Louis over the weekend, coach Kevin Hauck just wanted his Lady Tigers to have fun and play with intensity in their home game against Carthage Tuesday night. They did both, and it resulted in a 4-1 victory at home to open the Central Ozark Conference season.
Emily Jordan scored two goals, Anna Jones added another, and Anna Strusz scored her first-ever varsity goal in the Lady Tigers’ victory. Strusz’s goal came on a corner kick by Jordan. Strusz was stationed at the back post, crashed the middle, and deflected the ball off her chest into the goal for a Republic score. At the time, her goal made the score 2-0.
“Honestly, you’ve just got to try to get a foot on it. In my case, I got a chest on it,” says Strusz. “You kind of stop thinking. You just let your muscle memory and training kick in. You try not to over-think it.” (See video.)
Hauck says he was glad to see the Lady Tigers perform so well after their difficult weekend.
“I thought it was really important. I really just wanted to come out and have a lot of fun and play with a lot of energy and intensity and get back into the win column,” he says.
The only negative to their performance was their inability to score even more goals, despite peppering the Carthage goal-keeper with shots for most of the night.
“We would have liked to have finished more opportunities. But (the opportunities) were there, and for us to be in that position, that’s a step forward for us. Hopefully, later on in the season, we’ll be able to finish those when it matters the most,” Hauck says.
Republic is off until the weekend, when they’ll compete in the Ozark Tournament.