Donjuan says off-season work helped pave the way for his improvement.

“I played club, and my skills got better there,” he says. “A lot of my teammates were on the club team i was on. Then when soccer season came, we got along even better, because we already knew each other.”

“He’s an athlete that shows up to every practice and game ready to play,” says coach Mike Hines. “He says very little, but works as hard or harder than any one. He is developing in to a very tough defender, and I’m extremely happy to have him for one more year.”

Donjuan says he’s eager for what lies ahead, too. “I’m excited for our club season, to be with some of my friends from this team, and we’ll see each other progress for next year,” he says.

“We’ll see the work we’ve put into this program, and we didn’t lose many seniors, so we’ll be better.”

The all-region team is drawn from six districts in southwest and south-central Missouri.

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The two teams sold T-shirts, held a silent auction, and auctioned off two soccer balls–one autographed by each team. Republic coach Mike Hines has stressed community service since starting the soccer program last year, and he said that’s become a “core component of his program.

“We realized that most high school programs don’t turn out pro athletes,” Hines said. “So I decided you might as well have them be pro at something. So we decided to have them be contributors to society.”

“I give each team the opportunity to vote during the preseason on if they want to do a fundraiser. They came up with the idea that they wanted to do it for Joplin schools,” Hines said. “I thought it was great. My brother’s a fireman in Joplin, I lived in Joplin, our first son was born in Joplin, our old house there was wiped out. So I thought it was great.”

Last year, the boys and girls soccer teams raised about $8,000 combined for charity.

In the varsity game, Bolivar used two first-half goals to build a lead, then held off several Republic chances in the second half, before scoring two more late goals to account for the final margin.

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Admission will be free. The varsity match at 4 p.m. The junior varsity match will be after that. The games were moved up a half-hour from their original start time, with the varsity game occurring first, to allow Bolivar students to attend a memorial service for a classmate Thursday evening.

Activities include a silent auction, a prize drawing, and an auction of several game balls autographed by players. Commemorative T-shirts will also be for sale.

The Joplin School District had 10 schools damaged in last May’s storm, and five of the buildings are likely to be a total loss.

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The schedule change will allow Bolivar students to attend a memorial service for classmate Alexis N. Bootier, who was killed in a traffic crash Saturday, along with two other students. Funeral plans for the other two students, Daniella Ayala and her sister Gabriella, are still pending.

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The Tigers controlled the ball from the beginning, and broke on top in the 10th minute with a breakaway goal by Andrew Farrell. Jarrett tied the game briefly before Republic countered with a cross kick from Hayden Lease to Payton Roetto for a goal. The Tigers led 2-1 at halftime.

In the second half, it was all Republic. They scored on a set from Andrew Ferrell to Brad Glessner, who was credited with a goal off an opponent’s foot. The Tigers followed up with a score from Gabriel Bandfield from about 20 feet out, with some fancy footwork. And the goal of the night was the final one — a power shot that Dawson Sjomeling scored from outside the penalty box, off the goalie’s fingertips over his head.

Republic has one game left, next Tuesday at Lake Country Soccer complex at 6:00 against Springfield Catholic. The Tigers are 3-2-2.

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Admission will be free. The night begins with the junior varsity match at 4:30. The varsity match will begin around 6:15. Activities include a silent auction, a prize drawing, and an auction of several game balls autographed by players. Commemorative T-shirts will also be for sale.

The Joplin School District had 10 schools damaged in last May’s storm, and five of the buildings are likely to be a total loss.

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Both scores came on penalty kicks. At the 50th minute, Tanner Peabody was tripped in the penalty box  and Brad Glessner made the penalty kick to give Republic a 1-0 lead. Republic had opportunities to score more, but could not capitalize.

With one minute left Bolivar was given a penalty shot, and scored to tie the game.

Republic’s record is 2-2-2, with 2 games left.

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Riley Norris, who only started playing soccer for the first time in September, capped a big night by scoring the varsity game-winner in the 20th minute. He had scored two goals in the JV game.

“He won a goal kick, beat a defender, then hammered it past the goalie,” said coach Mike Hines.

“Last season we had two wins. This season we’ve had three,” Hines said. “We had a losing streak there, but we had seven games in a row where we lost by one goal. And that, to me, is the deciding factor to those the kids are getting better.”

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