Andie Wistrom scored four goals in 36 minutes as Republic routed Hillcrest 8-0 in the opening round of the Branson Shootout on Thursday, needing less than a half to trigger the mercy rule.
The win evened Republic’s record at 2-2 after a 6-0 loss at Glendale on Wednesday.
Macey Mitchell got the Lady Tigers on the board first, scoring with 32:40 left in the first half. Wistrom followed less than four minutes later to make it 2-0, and the goals kept coming. Bria Claxton made it 3-0, then Wistrom scored again with 20:42 remaining.
Paige Elsenraat pushed the lead to 5-0 with 13:18 left. Mitchell scored her second with 6:36 remaining, and just 16 seconds later, Wistrom completed her hat trick. She added a fourth goal with 3:24 left to end it.
Republic outshot Hillcrest 17-3. Awbree Berning made two saves and recorded her first shutout of the season.
The Lady Tigers opened 2026 with a difficult early schedule — losses to Glendale and a Smith-Cotton team that beat them on a last-second goal — and head coach Jesus Zuniga said he understood why.
“I’ve said that we’ve had a tougher start the past two years,” Zuniga said. Republic’s combined program record against its first three opponents this year was 3-21 entering the season.
“I told them to stop putting pressure on themselves, have fun, don’t force anything, let the game come to them,” Zuniga said. “They want to compete. They want to win. Living up to their standard has been the real challenge.”
Republic returns to action Friday in Branson against Rogers Heritage.
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