Monett Answers Tiger Blitz to Capture Win

Republic rallied from a two-goal deficit in the 2nd half at Monett, but the Cubs answered with the game-winner two minutes later, capturing a 3-2 win at Monett Tuesday night.

The Tigers had fallen behind early when a mistake led to the first goal by Monett at around the five-minute mark. Fifteen minutes later, the Cubs scored off a rebound, making it 2-0.

After halftime, though, the Tigers responded with a more aggressive style, controlling the ball and maintaining possession.

“I think the first half we played on our heels. The second half we turned it around and started to play a positive brand of soccer rather than a defensive style,” says coach David Ashby. “We started to be more aggressive and go after it.”

The aggressiveness paid off when Julio Quezada broke away from the defense and pushed the ball to the right of Monett’s goalkeeper with 14:22 left in the second half.  A little over three minutes later, freshman Drew Flippin scored his first career goal on an assist from Armando Hurtado to tie the game.

“As the second half showed, when we put it together, we can score. We’ve just got to minimize the amount of mistakes we have.”

It was less than two minutes after Republic tied the game that Monett responded, scoring on a rebound off Tiger goalkeeper Cody Marcotte to grab the lead for good.

“We had them on our heels. We just made a mistake. The ball rolled away from Cody and someone was there to put it in,” Ashby says.

Despite the season-opening loss, Ashby says he takes some positives from the team’s performance.

“We have some players who stepped up and played when I asked them to,” he says. “I didn’t put (freshmen) Alex Leonard or Drew Flippin in that much, but when I did put them in, I got solid minutes out of them.

“(Sophomore) Dylan Brown is a kid who needs to see more of the ball. I don’t know exactly where the best spot to put him is, but he’s a quality player and I think he’s going to fit in really nice with the team.”

Republic looks for its first win Thursday night. The Tigers travel to Lebanon.

 

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