Ozark Tigers Soccer

Saturday, May 16 at Ozark Tiger Stadium
5:30 pm     #4 Nixa vs #5 Parkview
7:30 pm     #3 Kickapoo vs #6 Branson

Wednesday, May 20 at Ozark Tiger Stadium
5:30 pm     #1 Glendale vs Winner #4/#5
7:30 pm     #2 Ozark  vs  Winner #3/#6

Friday, May 22 at Ozark Tiger Stadium
7:00 pm     Championship Match Class 3 District 11

The Lady Tiger JV team played three big games this weekend.  The fun began on Friday night when they played the Lady Blue Jays varsity squad from Greenwood (currently ranked #4 in the State in Class 1).  Junior Maddie Esther scored three goals for the Lady Jays, including one goal scored directly from a corner kick that was “bent like Beckham” into the far side netting, and Greenwood went on to defeat the Ozark JV team by a final score of 3-1.  Sophomore Danielle Poivre (pictured above) netted one for the Lady Tigers, and Ozark’s junior varsity looked strong against the ranked opponent.  The Lady Tigers had several scoring opportunities in the second half, but only managed to capitalize on one of them.

The Ozark JV squad next faced the Lady Viking JV squad from Parkview in the first round of the Ozark Junior Varsity Tournament on Saturday.  Ozark defeated Parkview 3-0 with goals from freshman Hadleigh Jordan, freshman Meghan Stacy, and sophomore Danielle Poivre to set up a rematch of Tuesday night’s battle with the Lady Eagles from Nixa in the championship match.  Nixa had come from behind to defeat Ozark on Tuesday night by a score of 3-2, but the Lady Tigers would get their revenge on Saturday afternoon, walking away from the game with a 2-0 victory and the title of tournament champions on goals from freshman Meghan Stacy and sophomore Mollie Killion.  Congrats ladies on a job well done!!!

The Ozark Lady Tigers defeated the Nixa Lady Eagles on Tuesday night to finish a clean sweep of the big schools in the Central Ozarks Conference.  The winning goal for the Tigers came in the first 10 minutes of the second half of a game played in the rain.  That’s when Ozark junior Megan Gunnels played a ball into the six-yard box where senior Eva Schwert was waiting to finish it into the goal after it was initially knocked down by the Nixa keeper.  Playing conditions continued to deteriorate as the game progressed and the score remained 1-0 when the final whistle was blown.  With the win, Ozark also secured a #2 seed for the upcoming district tournament, which includes a bye in the first round and a little extra time to rest and prepare for the next battle.

Nixa’s JV squad defeated Ozark by a score of 3-2 in the early match.  The Nixa Eagles website has the complete story on that game.

The Ozark Lady Tigers faced off against the Lady Chiefs of Kickapoo on Monday night in a key district match.  The Lady Tigers established control of the game early and dominated much of the attack during the 80 minutes of action.  Ozark junior Megan Gunnels placed the ball on the foot of center midfielder Megan Stodden in the 13th minute as Stodden made a run up the center of the field.  Stodden blew past the last two Kickapoo defenders and launched a solid shot past the keeper and into the back of the net to give the Lady Tigers an early 1-0 lead.  With 9 minutes left in the first half, sophomore Jackie Wacha played a ball from the center of the field down the right side to forward Alicia Collard.  As Collard drew the Kickapoo sweeper out wide, senior Eva Schwert made an unmarked run up the center of field.  Collard released her pass to the center of the field and put the ball in Eva’s path, sending Schwert to goal in a 1v1 situation with the Kickapoo keeper.  Schwert skillfully placed her shot into the far right corner of the goal, extending Ozark’s lead to 2-0 before the halftime break. 

The Lady Tigers continued to control the pace of play in the second half, although the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs were able to put together several attacking runs.  But Ozark’s defensive line of Curtis, Jenisch and Braun (pictured above, pictures courtesy of Steve Olson, sgfsoccer.com) helped shut down several of the attacks, and Ozark keeper Paige Hemphill came up with some big saves to secure the shutout when the Lady Chiefs managed to put some dangerous shots on goal.  Ozark scored their third and final goal of the game in the 49th minute when Alicia Collard served an arching ball into the six yard box from 40 yards out on the right side.  The ball took a big bounce in the box and Ozark left midfielder Taylor Jordan rose up on the far post to head it into the goal. 

As a few pre-game warmup shirts boldly stated . . . .
Fear the Who?  Fear the Tigers.
Final score Ozark 3 and Kickapoo 0. 
Way to go Tigers! 

In the JV match, Kickapoo beat Ozark 2-0 and handed the Lady Tiger jv squad their second loss of the season.

The Ozark Lady Tigers faced two teams from Wisconsin on the second day of the Tournament of Champions in Burlington, Iowa.  In the first match, the Lady Tigers gave up 2 goals in the first half and 3 more in the second half against a tough team from Whitefish Bay, losing by a final score of 5-0.  In their second game on Saturday, and their final game of the tournament, the Lady Tigers were matched up with a team from Horlick, Wisconsin.  Horlick opened the scoring in the 10th minute of play taking an early 1-0 lead over the Lady Tigers.  But Ozark was determined not to come home empty handed and continued to work hard for a win.  Lady Tiger midfielder Megan Stodden got the equalizer in the 37th minute when she took a shot from over 25 yards out on the left that sailed into the upper right corner of the goal (assist Jackie Wacha).  Junior forward Alicia Collard scored the winning goal for the Lady Tigers approximately 15 minutes into the second half.  Collard’s goal was scored from a direct kick taken by junior defender Megan Jenisch from 40 yards out on the right.  Jenisch played a low ball into the 18 that was flicked on to Collard by junior Rachel Haden.  Final score Ozark 2 and Horlick 1.

The Lady Tigers began the tournament with a match against Belleville West, a strong team from Belleville, IL who entered the tournament with a 13-1 record.  Belleville opened the scoring on a corner kick in the 25th minute of play.  A Belleville attacker rose up on back side of the 6-yard box and nodded her header shot down towards the goal line.  It was an unstoppable finish.  Belleville West scored two more goals in the next four minutes. One from a huge throw-in deep on the left side that cleared the defensive line and fell inside the 18-yard box where a Belleville player raced onto it and slotted it under the Ozark keeper and into the left corner.  The third Belleville goal came at the 29 minute mark when a forward created enough space to release her shot from a step inside the 18-yard box on the right.  The ball bent perfectly and tucked just inside the right post to give Belleville West a 3-0 lead.  The Lady Tigers did not give up, however.  They continued to play hard.  Just before the halftime break, a Bellville West player managed to get a foot on the ball infront of the goal that sent a scorching ball towards the crossbar, the ball appeared to have deflected straight back down and out of the goal, but the sharp eye of the assistant referee recognized that the ball had actually managed to squeak underneath the crossbar and actually deflected off the bar at the rear of the goal.  Giving Bellville a 4-0 lead at the break.

The Ozark Lady Tigers came out in the second half and continued to maintain a strong work ethic.  Junior forward Alicia Collard capitalized on a defender’s mistake in the 57th minute.  She took advantage of a poor touch by the sweeper, stole the ball, and accelerated towards the goal keeping the defender behind her.  As the keeper came out, Alicia directed her shot out of the keeper’s reach and into the left side netting.  Alicia’s goal ended up being the only goal of the second half; and although Ozark lost the game, they were able to walk away with the knowledge that they were able to step up and win the second half. 

Side note:  senior defender Evie Curtis suffered an ankle injury in the first 20 minutes of the game and did not return to the action.  Her absence provided valuable minutes of experience to sophomore Kelsey Rumley and freshman Keysha Burns who both stepped up and played tough soccer for the Lady Tigers during the remaining 60 minutes of the game.