Republic played an aggressive, physical style to take control for a 2-0 win at Webb City Tuesday night. The Lady Tigers clinched third place in the Central Ozark Conference with the win.
“I thought that (aggressiveness) kind of set the tone for us,” says coach Kevin Hauck. “Early on, we were aggressive, winning a lot of 50/50s. The defense was doing a great job of winning the ball early, which really helped us, and that continued throughout the night.”
The Lady Tigers scored first in the 22nd minute, when Sarah Hicks chased the ball into the corner, out-worked the defender, and fed it across to Clara Fronabarger. Fronabarger kicked the ball into the left side of the net to make it 1-0.
The second goal came in the second half, when Anna Jones teamed with Fronabarger on a corner kick. Jones passed it to Fronabarger near the corner, and she booted it across the box and into the net to make it 2-0 in the 69th minute.
From there, Republic’s midfield and defense turned in another solid performance, keeping Webb City’s scoring chances to a minimum, and snuffing out the chances they did have. Signe Wulff stood out with her aggressive play in the middle, often initiating contact as she tried to win the ball. Hauck says she played a big part in helping Republic control possession.
“She’s really strong, and she goes in hard. She wins the ball and she gets to the ball a lot, but she just goes in so hard that sometimes it looks worse than what it is,” Hauck says of the physical contact between Wulff and opponents. “The fact that we have someone who I know will go into the ball constantly hard, winning 50/50s, is really big. It has shown in some of our bigger games this season.
Hauck also points to the play of Abbie Hicks, who’s filled an outside backer role since “Momo” Moffitt went down with an injury.
“I thought was doing a great job of getting up the field in our attacks and being available for us to be able to give her the ball, to cross the ball coming in,” Hauck says. “She was winning the ball really high for us, not allowing for them to find their top on her side. And I thought that she did a great job tonight.”
Republic is 12-6. The Lady Tigers will honor seven seniors at their next home game Thursday.
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Farr Better Player of the Game
Abbie Hicks did a little bit of everything Tuesday night, from the front of the Lady Tigers’ formation to the back. Hicks “was doing a great job of getting up the field in our attacks,” says coach Kevin Hauck, “…and she was winning the ball really high for us, not allowing them to find their top on her side.” Her aggressiveness opened up several opportunities for the Lady Tigers, and they delivered with a 2-0 win, so Abbie Hicks is our Farr Better Player of the Game.
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