Ozark Tigers Soccer

Congratulations to Jayme Braun for being named one of the top freshman players in the area this spring.  Check out the sgfsoccer.com article for the entire All-Ozarks Freshman team.

The Ozark Lady Tigers were well represented when Class 2 District 12 Honors were announced for Missouri High School Girls Soccer.  The list of Ozark players recognized included a senior, a junior, six sophomores, a freshman, and their coach.  Ozark also walked away with four of the top five awards.

Player of the Year:  Paige Hemphill (sophomore)
Offensive Player of the Year:  Katy McLain (Kickapoo senior)
Defensive Player of the Year:  Megan Jenisch (sophomore)
Goalkeeper of the Year:  Paige Hemphill (sophomore)
Coach of the Year:  Tom Davidson

First Team All-District:
Megan Gunnels (sophomore forward)
Megan Stodden (sophomore midfielder)
Megan Jenisch (sophomore defender)
Paige Hemphill (sophomore keeper)

Second Team All-District:
Alicia Collard (sophomore forward)
Erica Hogan (senior midfielder)
Rachel Haden (sophomore midfielder)
Jayme Braun (freshman defender)

Honorable Mention:
Brittany Matthews (junior midfielder)

The full list of all-district teams for Class 2 District 12 is available on the www.sgfsoccer.com website.  Steve Olson of sgfsoccer took the photo of the team above.

The Ozark Lady Tigers defeated the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs for the first time in the program’s history on Thursday night in Joplin.  And in doing so, also earned the title of District Champions for the first time since they began competing in Class 2 District 12.  It was a huge accomplishment for this young squad of talented players.

It was freshman Jayme Braun who made the early statement for the Lady Tigers.  She challenged the Kickapoo keeper for a 50/50 ball near the left post one minute into the game following a shot taken by sophomore midfielder Rachel Haden.  Jayme won the challenge and hustled to put the ball into the goal before the keeper or any of the Kickapoo defenders could stop her.  Braun’s effort gave Ozark the early lead, and the battle was on.  Attack and counterattack moved the ball up and down the field.

Kickapoo finally leveled the score three minutes before halftime on a corner taken by junior Erica Freiert.  Kickpoo had proven often this season that they are a serious scoring threat on set pieces, and they continuted to demonstrate that throughout the championship match.  Sophomore Megan Etter, one of many finishers in the box for Kickapoo, was able to settle the ball sent in by Freiert and finished it solidly to tie the score at 1-1.

Both teams came out and continued to push for the game winning goal in the second half.  It was Ozark sophomore Megan Gunnels who finally found the opportunity to score with just 2 minutes left in the game.  Junior defender Evie Curtis sent a ball from the back over Kickapoo’s defensive line.  Gunnels got a jump on the defenders and raced to the ball.  She took a touch on the run about 25 yards out, and then lofted a shot with perfect pace over the charging keeper, the ball rose over the keeper and then dipped into the goal.  The Ozark players, coaches and fans were in the air!

But Kickapoo, lead by senior Chealsey Russell, was not finished.  They continued to fight, and fight hard to find a way to get back in the game.  As an Ozark fan, it seemed to be the longest two minutes of stoppage time in the history of the sport . . . and Kickapoo took advantage of every last second.  Senior Chealsey Russell, who worked extremely hard all night, and because of her hustle seemed to be everywhere on the field, made a final run down the right side of the field in the closing seconds.  Against the odds, and because of her effort and desire to win, she got a cross off with less than 5 seconds left in regulation time that was placed perfectly on the foot of freshman McKenna Adams on the near post.  Adams finished remarkably to send the game into overtime.  The first OT of the year for the Ozark squad.

So the battle raged through two more 15-minute overtime periods with no golden goal for either team, and then it was time for PK’s.

Sophomore Megan Jenisch was up first for the Tigers . . . . GOAL!
Kickapoo’s first attempt . . . . wide left
Sophomore Megan Gunnels up next for the Tigers . . . . GOAL!!
Kickapoo’s second attempt . . . . hit the right post and out
Senior Erica Hogan up third for the Tigers . . . . GOAL!!!
Kickapoo’s third attempt . . SAVED BY KEEPER PAIGE HEMPHILL!!!!

OZARK WINS THE CHAMPIONSHIP 3-0 IN PK’S!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS LADIES ON A WELL DESERVED WIN!!!!

The Lady Tigers move on to the sectional match on Tuesday, May 20th, at the Cooper Fields at Lake Country Soccer in Springfield, where they will face Glendale, the winner from District 11. 

One of Ozark’s first scoring opportunities of the match is pictured in the stop action photos above.  Sophomore defender Megan Jenisch went up for a corner played in by teammate Megan Gunnels and placed the header just a few inches too high as it pinged off the crossbar.  Megan Gunnels would put the Lady Tigers on the scoreboard with the eventual game winning goal in the 22nd minute when she was able to get a foot on a ball crossed into the box by Alicia Collard and placed her shot into the right corner of the goal.

Senior Kristin Glaubitz scored Ozark’s second goal of the match in the sixth minute of the second half when senior Erica Hogan played a ball into her path as she made a run up the left side of the field.  Glaubitz shot early as the Parkview keeper was coming out and her shot got past the charging keeper and skipped into the goal.  The third and final goal of the night for the Lady Tigers was a beautiful shot taken on the run by Alicia Collard from the right side of the field in the 63rd minute of play.  The rocket ball launched by Collard sailed over the keeper and into the upper 90 to seal the game for Ozark.  The Lady Tigers now move on to face the Lady Chiefs from Kickapoo in the District Final on Thursday night.  The game is scheduled to kickoff at 6:00 pm at Junge Field in Joplin.

Following the Zizzer’s kickoff, Ozark took immediate possession of the ball and the game.  Senior midfielder Erica Hogan played a ball forward to sophomore striker Alicia Collard, who placed the winning shot into the back of the net before 40 seconds had expired on the clock.  Collard would strike again in the 8th minute on an unassisted run into the box to give the Lady Tigers a 2-0 lead.  Sophomore midfielder Rachel Haden would score the first goal of her high school career in the 24th minute of play when she buried a penalty kick that was awarded when a West Plains’ player was called for handling the ball in the box.  Following the PK, Ozark coach Tom Davidson pulled his starting field players for the remainder of the half and provided an opportunity for his swing players to get some quality varsity minutes.  The score at halftime remained 3-0.

With the important district tournament next week, Davidson decided not to risk injury to his keeper and gave senior Kristin Glaubitz (pictured above) a taste of life in goal for the second half.  She did great and produced a couple big saves when necessary to preserve the shutout for the Lady Tigers (their 12th of the season).  Eight minutes into the second half, sophomore Megan Gunnels received a ball from freshman Jayme Braun and split defenders to go 1v1 with the Zizzer’s keeper resulting in the fourth Tiger goal of the night.  Soon after that goal, Davidson decided to again rest his starters and gave the bench the opportunity to finish out the game.  Senior Britain Roberts got her second goal of the season in the 72nd minute with an assist from freshman Mollie Killion to bring the final score to 5-0 in favor of the Lady Tigers.  Ozark finished the regular season with a impressive record of 17-5-1.

In the final JV match of the season, the Ozark coaches decided to mix up the line-up and defensive players were given an opportunity to go on the attack.  In the first half, junior Caitlin Chapin scored her first two goals in high school soccer . . . and so did freshman Kelsey Rumley.  The score at halftime was 4-0 in favor of the Lady Tigers.  Sophomore Kelsie Brown (aka “Tick”) who got to play sweeper in the first half so teammate Kelsey Rumley could take advantage of the opportunity to score, got to move back up into the attack in the second half.  Brown also found the back of the net twice for the Lady Tigers, resulting in the final score of the JV game of 6-0 for Ozark.  With the win, the JV season came to a fantastic conclusion.  On the year, their record was 15-1-1 with 11 shutouts.  They outscored their opponents 52 to 9.  The tie and only loss came in the matches against rival Kickapoo.  Congratulations ladies on a great season!  We look forward to big things to come from you in the next three years.