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.