Abbie Hicks was in the right place at the right time to deliver a dramatic win on the road Tuesday night. Hicks found a rebound and pushed home the game-winning shot with just 24 seconds remaining in the second overtime period, helping Republic edge Parkview 2-1 Tuesday evening. Hicks’ game-winning shot was a rebound of a shot by Emily Jordan that had been knocked aside momentarily by Parkview’s goalkeeper.
“I think the goalie got it, but it bounced off the top, so I just followed through,” Hicks says. “I always like to follow the ball, because any goal — it doesn’t have to be pretty — I just say if you put a point on the scoreboard, that’s what matters.”
Freshman Emma Pearce, who scored her first career varsity goal to give Republic a 1-0 lead in the 44th minute, scored on a similar play—a rebound from a shot taken by Jordan.
“It feels pretty good. I’m just really excited because it’s my first varsity goal,” Pearce says. “I just had to follow up on the ball when EJ shot it. It ricocheted off one of the players, and I just kind of took a shot,” she says.
Coach Kevin Hauck says he was happy with the offensive attack mounted by Republic, despite their lack of scoring. Jordan, Pearce, and Hicks all had several opportunities to score, especially in the second half.
“It was making me frustrated because I couldn’t get a shot in,” Pearce says. “I didn’t have my feet right on some of them, and I was shooting with my left foot half the time.”
For Hauck, getting goals from Pearce and Hicks is a positive development after a rough start.
“It was really good that both of them got their goals and got confidence going, because we’ve got to find scoring,” Hauck says. “We were all over the goal. It could easily have been a 5-1 6-1 game. Abbie caused a lot of havoc on their defense, and Emma did too, once she finally got comfortable up there.”
Pearce and Hicks will have a more prominent role up top for now, as Jordan moves to the mid-field, along with Danielle Beck. It’s part of a series of changes necessitated by the injury to Madi Mitchell.
“Both have good speed and can pressure and are aggressive, and so far that’s worked out well for us,” Hauck says. “Then we dropped EJ into the middle to help Anna Jones. Those two together work the middle really well and can control a game for us.
“We want EJ to score as much as possible. She is a terrific scorer. The same with Anna Jones. But the more they can control the game for us, their opportunities are going to come. We’ve got to have them around the ball constantly, and that will help us.”
Republic improves to 2-3. They host Glendale Thursday night.
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Farr Better Player of the Game
Abbie Hicks and Emma Pearce were both bumped up to the forward position as a way to boost the Lady Tigers offense, and they made it pay off for coach Kevin Hauck Tuesday night. Pearce scored her first career goal and Hicks ended the evening in sudden death with her game-winning goal to account for Republic’s scoring. Hicks and Pearce are our Farr Better Plumbing co-Players of the Game.
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