By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
Early in the first half of Joplin’s game against Ozark on Monday night, an Eagles fan warned the crowd.
“You know in soccer, you can spend two or three minutes working the ball downfield and look good doing it, but then one kick can erase it all.”
The Eagles didn’t heed the advice, and fell 3-2 in the nonconference game.
As the fan noted, one kick could have made the difference. The Eagles missed three golden opportunities to score on an open net. The Tigers took advantage of the mistakes and made Joplin pay.
In the second half, Ozark made it apparent the Eagles would have to take the more arduous path to victory. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead on a Megan Gunnels goal in the 35th minute, but Joplin jumped right back in the first minute of the second half when Kelsey Sanders scored on a redirected pass from teammate Laken Neal.
The Tigers wasted no time answering Sanders’ goal with another of their own. Alicia Collard scored on an assist from Kristin Glaubitz in the 42nd minute to make it 2-1.
“We wanted to play a full game tonight,” Ozark coach Tod Sundlie said. “That was our game plan. We wanted to come out here and play two consistent halves, two hard halves. We were fortunate.”
While the Tigers were sticking to their game plan, the Eagles were executing one of their own.
Joplin again knotted the game in the 54th minute when Lindsay Altman scooted a pass to an open Neal, who then popped a high volley over Tigers goalkeeper Emily Prosser.
Ozark missed an opportunity to take the lead two minutes later when Erica Hogan scorched a line drive off the goal post. The Tigers, though, quickly made up for the miss when Hogan and Jenisch hooked up for the final score of the game.
“We can’t wait until (the Eagles) score before we get fired up,” Sundlie said. “We have some adjustments to make, but we figured out a way (to win). We’ve got a young team here and we are improving every day.
“We are excited about this win.”
Despite the loss, Eagles coach Ed Miller saw improvement from his team.
“I think we had a lot of energy and we played a lot better,” Miller said. “We had some chances (to win).”
The Eagles benefited from the addition of Neal, who was playing in her first game after missing the first seven of the season. Neal contributed a goal and an assist.
“I thought we did a lot more offensively from the left side,” Miller said. “I think we got a little predictable at times, but (Ozark) had some good shots. We would like to see some of that out of our team.”
Ozark improves to 5-3. The Tigers entertain Marshfield at 4:30 p.m. today.
The Eagles fall to 3-4-1. Joplin travels to play Parkview in an Ozark Conference game at 4:30 today.
