The Tiger soccer team took advantage of its best scoring opportunities, beating Marshfield at home Thursday 3-1. It was the second home win of the week for the Tigers, who knocked off Springfield Central on Tuesday.
Republic broke on top in the 22nd minute, when Drew Flippin fed the ball to Dylan Brown for the opening goal of the night. Republic pressed the ball upfield for the rest of the half, but didn’t get back on the scoreboard until after halftime.
The Tigers’ second goal came when Flippin and Brown reversed roles. Brown fed a through pass to Flippin, who split the defense and put the ball in the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Marshfield cut the lead to 2-1 on a penalty kick in the 70th minute, but Republic answered one more time. Brown picked up his second assist of the night when he got the ball to Ray Rosas. Rosas put a nifty move on a defender, cut across the box, and drove the ball home to make it 3-1.
Coach David Ashby says there’s not a lot of difference between the way the Tigers are playing this week and the way they were playing when they struggled to score earlier in the season — with one exception.
“We’re finishing our chances. We’ve had chances all year to put the ball away, and we just haven’t been able to do it. It seems like the last couple of games, we’re getting that one step closer. We’re finishing those goals,” he says. “Dylan Brown got a goal and got an assist tonight, and he’s been struggling to find the back of the net all year long. Keeping the guys in the right mental attitude and reminding them that it’s there, we can find it, keep working for it, it’s going to happen and this is the result.”
Ashby says the lack of scoring (and the lack of wins) had begun to wear down the Tigers before their two wins this week.
“It’s difficult when you get into a drought and you’re not finishing so much, because it starts to wear on you. It starts to play that mental game. I like to refer to it as quicksand. When one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong, and they start getting in that mind of theirs and start thinking they can’t do it,” Ashby says.
“Today I took the kids over to…McCullough Elementary and they played recess with the kids and helped them on their bus. Just stuff like that to help them lighten up a little bit and remind them, ‘Hey, at the end of the day, it’s a game. We’re out here to have fun and work hard,’ and that’s what we’re doing.”