On a beautiful Monday evening, the West Plains Lady Zizzers took on the Ozark Lady Tigers. The Tigers brought a nice possession attack to the field and wasted little time taking the offensive. West Plains was able to fend off the Tigers efforts at goal while creating the occassional attack the other way. At halftime, the score remained 0-0.
West Plains came out and controlled the action for the first part of the second half, but it was Ozark who struck first. In the ninth minute of the half, Alicia Collard passed a ball in to Megan Gunnels who beat the last Lady Zizzer defender and then fired a shot from 14 yards out to the left of West Plains Keeper Jamie Brassfield.
West Plains would draw level in the 28th minute of the half. A ball was played near the Ozark 18 yard box where Lady Zizzer Forward, Michell Esterle gained control and fought through a crowd of defenders. After getting a little space, Esterle fired a shot in from 8 yards out. Regulation time would end with the score tied 1-1.
In the 5th minute of Overtime, a great individual effort by Ozark’s Melissa Hogan ended the game. Hogan received a ball on the left side, beat a defender and dribbled to the endline. As Jamie Brassfield came toward her to cut down the angle, Hogan slid a ball past her that landed just inside the far post for a 2-1 Ozark victory. Despite the loss, the Lady Zizzer’s performance was one they can be proud of. As a team, the defensive positioning is improving and the overall effort was more consistent. With the win, Ozark improves to 3-2-0 on te season, while West Plains drops to 4-6-0. Up next for the Lady Zizzers is a trip to Lebanon on Tuesday to take on the Lady Yellowjackets in an Ozark Conference match.
In JV action, Ozark came away with a 2-1 victory. Just like the Varsity match, the two teams battled to a 0-0 tie at the half. West Plains did a better job of working together at both ends of the field. In the 11th minute of the second half Ozark scored on a rebound after the initial two saves were made. Ozark scored again just 4 minutes later. This time the goal came on a header from 6 yards out.
West Plains would continue to work hard and things finally paid off in the 34th minute. Lady Zizzer Freshman, Megan Lowe, raced down and took a shot from 18 yards out that went past the diving Ozark Keeper and inside the far post. That was as close as West Plains would get as Ozark held on for the 2-1 victory. The West Plains JV record drops to 2-3-0 on the season.
