Lady Tigers soccer coach Kevin Hauck put a heavy emphasis on defense in the off-season. He got plenty of defense in the season opener, but offense was a different story, as Republic lost to Rolla 2-0 on the road Tuesday. The Lady Bulldogs controlled possession almost from the start, pushing the ball deep into the Republic zone and peppering goalkeeper Tara Campbell with shots. Campbell finished with 14 saves.
“Defensively, I thought we did a really great job,” says coach Kevin Hauck. “To hold them to two — and I think Rolla is a great team and they can score — it makes me feel really good. Tara played a great game for us. She made some great saves and she was strong back there. We’ve just got to figure out a way to get some offense.”
The Lady Tigers had trouble pushing the ball up the field to senior forward Emily Jordan, and when Jordan did get the ball, she didn't have much support. That's partly because one of Jordan's key supporting players was on the sideline with a knee injury. Madi Mitchell went down in practice last Friday and did not play. That forced Hauck to shuffle his lineup, and left several players in unfamiliar positions. Sophomore Abbie Hicks and junior Kayla Donjuan both played in the midfield unexpectedly because of the personnel shakeup. Hauck says they were still learning their roles as the game unfolded.
“When Madi went down last week, it put us in a bind that close to the first game, trying to figure out how we were going to re-shuffle everything, and who would fit where,” Hauck says. “A lot of our offense came from Madi and E.J., and when you lose one, you lose a big part of your offense.”
The season opening shutout was still an improvement over last year, when the Lady Tigers lost to Rolla 4-0.
Republic travels to Rogersville on Thursday.
