After a scoreless first half, the Lady Tigers upped the pressure on Greenwood. For the first 20 minutes, they dominated possession, pushed forward into the goal box, and peppered Greenwood with shot after shot. Finally, with about 25 minutes remaining, lightning struck twice in quick succession, helping Republic to a 2-0 victory.
The first Republic goal came on a through ball from Grace Carter to Emily Jordan. Jordan took the ball about 30 yards out, drove up the middle, then slid the ball to the right of the Greenwood keeper to make it 1-0.
“I told (Grace), ‘Hey, they’re playing a deep sweeper. Go mark the sweeper and the balls going to come to you. All you’ve got to do is take a touch off and hopefully a runner’s there, and it worked out,” says coach Kevin Hauck.
Less than a minute later, Jordan struck again, making the score 2-0 and giving the Lady Tigers breathing room for the home stretch.
Republic missed several opportunities in both halves that could have given them a bigger lead. Hauck told his team after the game that they’ll need to get better at finishing those opportunities.
“Througout the whole year, we’ve kind of struggled in the first half to be able to finish something. It happened again tonight to us. Luckily, though, we kept taking our shots and finally got a couple to fall for us,” Hauck says. “As long as it works out this way, I’m happy.”
Republic’s second-half attack was far more effective than the first half, even before Republic managed to put the ball in the goal. Hauck says it was a result of an adjustment the team made at halftime.
“In the first half, I noticed the middle was opening a lot more but we were looking to get rid of the ball a little bit too early. We had a lot of space we just weren’t taking in that first half,” Hauck says. “The second half, we were able to attack in the middle of the field more because we were able to…keep the ball and draw a defender to us, which really opened up a lot behind for us to play some through balls, and that ended up paying well for us.”
The Lady Tigers played without co-captain Emily Griffith in the midfield. She was nursing a leg injury, but expects to be ready for Republic’s conference matchup with Nixa tomorrow night on the road.
With the win over Greenwood, Republic improves to 8-5 overall.