A rocky start on the road at Ozark spelled doom for Republic soccer on the road Tuesday in a 4-2 loss. The bright spot of the night came in the second half, when Republic’s Dylan Brown scored two goals –– his 33rd and 34th of the year –– setting a new school record. The old record of 33 goals had been held by senior Julio Quezada.
Republic fell behind 3-0 early, and still trailed by three goals at halftime. An Ozark goal with about 19 minutes remaining made it 4-0, but Republic picked up its intensity and fought its way back. Carlos Chan fed Brown for his first goal, then Brown scored about two minutes later to make the score 4-2. The Tigers had another scoring opportunity in the final six minutes when Brown came within a foot of completing his hat trick.
Coach Kevin Hauck says Republic lacked intensity early, but remedied that after halftime.
“We came out with a lot more energy in the second half. We kept it simple. We were moving the ball a lot better as a team,” Hauck says. “(In the 1st half), we were getting anxious. We were wanting to send everything high and over, and you can’t do that. I told the boys, learn to adapt in the game. We can’t play it over in the game, so you’ve got to play it on the ground. That’s what we did in the second half, and I thought it gave us a lot more chances.”