Springfield Catholic, the #5 ranked Class 1 team in the State, came to town Monday evening. Catholic wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Erin Fitzgerald gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the first minute of play, as her shot from the left side of the box went over Zizzer Keeper, Michelle Esterle and into the back of the net. Elle Holtman would add to the lead with a goal in the 12th minute. Three minutes later, Anna DeLong got free and scored her first of two goals on the night. In the 17th minute of play, Catholic Junior Tara Bailes would score her first of four goals on the night. Late in the half West Plains was able to create of couple of chances, but was unable to put anything dangerous near the goal. At halftime Catholic lead 4-0.
In the 53rd minute, Mollie Plocher dribbled a ball into the box and was taken down by a Catholic defender, resulting in a penalty kick. Plocher converted the penalty kick for her team leading 9th goal of the season. Catholic wasn’t finished scoring. DeLong added her second goal in the 61st minute. Then Tara Bailes scored 3 consecutive goals in the 65th, 67th, and 72nd minutes. Elle Holtman finished off the scoring with her second goal in the 79th minute for a final score of 9-1. Zizzer Keeper, Michelle Esterle, made a couple of good saves to keep Catholic from scoring even more goals. The loss drops the Varsity record to 8-15 on the season.
In JV action, the story was similar. Catholic scored 5 first half goals and then added 4 in the second half to win by the score of 9-0. Despite the score, West Plains was able to move the ball at times and get it into the offensive zone. But once there, the team struggled to shots on goal.
Both teams will look to rebound in the Regular Season finale as they travel to Rolla on Wednesday. This is a makeup game for the rainout last Thursday. Varsity will open District play against McAuley (Joplin) on Saturday at 10:45am at Willard.
