Republic jumped ahead 2-0 at home against Branson Tuesday night, but had to fight to hold on against the hard-charging Pirates in a 3-1 victory.
Republic’s Dylan Brown and Spenser Waller each scored early to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. But Branson scored just before halftime to cut the lead to 2-1, then came out strong after the break, putting pressure on the Republic defense.
The biggest play of the game came in the 66th minute, with Republic leading 2-1. After a penalty in the box against the Tigers, Branson lined up for a penalty kick — but goalkeeper Dalton Ghan was ready.
“They’re mainly just a mind game or a mental game,” Ghan says of his approach to penalty kicks. “At the beginning, you kind of look for their eye or body movement. He was looking lower-right corner, and I was like, ‘Okay, that might be where he’s going.’ Then he started looking at it really hard, so that means he’s probably going to fake me—so I went the other way.”
Ghan dove into the kick, knocked it away, and Branson was unable to convert on the rebound. A few minutes later, Brown scored his second goal of the game on a free kick, making it 3-1 and putting the game out of reach.
