For about three minutes, it looked like Republic’s soccer team (3-15) was about to pull off the upset of the southwest Missouri soccer season against Springfield Glendale (17-4). The Tigers had scored two late goals, both by Santino Stiglianese, to take a 2-1 lead. But a Glendale goal, booted in from about 25 yards out, curled into the corner of the goal with a little over ten seconds left in regulation. It tied the game 2-2, and set up a Glendale 3-2 win in overtime.
“It’s just the story of our season,” said coach Jesus Zuniga. “I asked them to play 80 minutes tonight, and they gave me 80… Then unfortunately, we had to go 90 minutes tonight.”
Glendale had taken a 1-0 lead early in the second half and was on track to make it stick — but a foul in the box set up a penalty kick by Stiglianese with a chance to tie with about 6:30 remaining. The Glendale keeper, Cole Vincel, set off a brief celebration by blocking the shot — but the rebound came back out to Stiglianese, who knocked the ball into the goal.
Five minutes later, Stiglianese scored again, putting the Tigers on top. But Glendale’s goal just ahead of the final buzzer deflated Republic.
“It’s not for a lack of heart,” Zuniga said. “We are literally right there, and they know we’re that close. You look at the last two weeks, we’ve lost so many games by just one goal… and they’re finally starting to score. Our attack is starting to play well. The defense is shutting teams down. Hopefully these boys can still go on another run.”
Republic will continue its season with a COC match at Willard Tuesday.