The soccer Tigers blew open a close game after halftime, scoring six 2nd-half goals to race past West Plains 8-1 at home Thursday night. Dylan Brown had three goals and Josh Gallardo added two, including one with a second remaining on the clock. They were the first two varsity goals of Gallardo’s career. Conner Sutton also had his first varsity goal.
“It just feels amazing to have my first two varsity goals,” Gallardo says. “The first one, Spenser was on the left side, and he crossed it toward the middle. I just jumped up and it hit my knee and it went into the upper 90.”
Gallardo’s second goal, as time expired, came on an assist from Trenton Roetto. “The defender went to him and he crossed it to me, and I had a 1-on-1 shot with the goalie. It just slipped right by him, and I made it,” Gallardo says.
Republic led 2-0 at halftime, after Luis Elivo and Brown scored in the 11th and 19th minutes, respectively. Armando Hurtado made it 3-0 in the first two minutes of the second half.
Jakoby Hansmann cut the lead to 3-1 for the Zizzers before the Republic offense exploded.
Brown scored his second and third goals, Conner Sutton picked up his goal, and Gallardo finished off the scoring for the Tigers.
Republic rebounds from two losses to two of the area’s best teams: Springfield Catholic and Nixa.
“I always think a tough match can give us experience moving forward, especially against quality opponents. Catholic and Nixa both, within their class, are going to make runs in the state playoffs. Playing them close and losing is disappointing, but it gave us experience on how we need to play to get to that level and stay at that level,” coach Kevin Hauck says.
Hauck says the Tigers came out as the aggressor against West Plains.
“We wanted to put a lot of pressure on them and possess the ball. Tonight we were able to put a lot of good connecting passes together, and that’s what gave us the scoring opportunities,” he says. “I told the boys at the end of the game, when we move the ball up by passing, instead of just kicking or dribbling up ourselves, we are such a better team and it gives us more scoring chances. Tonight, when we moved the ball, the opportunities were there for us—and finally we found the back of the net, and that makes a huge difference as well.”
The Tigers improve to 3-2. They host Branson next Tuesday.