Macey Mitchell broke a 1-1 tie with 16 minutes left in the first half, and Republic pulled away from there, sprinting to a 5-1 victory on the road at Branson Monday.
Christiane Ulsund had put Republic on top 12 minutes into the match, firing a rocket from 25 yards out into the left side of the net, with an assist by Myla Baker. After Branson tied the match nearly nine minutes later, Mitchell gave the Lady Tigers the lead for good. She took a pass from Andie Wistrom, shot the ball from nearly the same spot as Ulsund, and fired the ball into the same part of the net, giving Republic a 2-1 edge.
That was the score at halftime, and Republic tacked on two more goals int he second half. The first was by Wistrom, unassisted, with 14:26 remaining. The next was by Ava Woolley, also unassisted, with 8:39 left in the match.
Republic had an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks over Branson.
The win ended a two-game losing skid for Republic, who had dropped consecutive shutout decisions to Nixa (5-0) and Kickapoo (3-0) last week. The Lady Tigers travel to Carthage for a COC West battle Tuesday night. A win at Carthage would set up a winner-take-all match with Willard for the COC title in Republic on May 7.
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