The Zizzer Varsity Soccer Team traveled to Quincy, IL for the 1st Annual Brine Midwest Classic Soccer Tournament August 31-September 1. The Four Team – Round Robin format provided a competitive and rewarding weekend for the Zizzers. (Don’t forget to check out all of Randy Hunt’s Photos from the weekend. Pictured is Zizzer Keeper Landon Perry punching a ball out of danger. Click the picture or the Zizzer Soccer Photos Link on the Right Hand Side of this page for more photos.)
On Friday, West Plains took on the Kirksville (MO) Tigers. Despite a sloppy first half, the Zizzers managed a 4-1 victory. The Zizzers got on the board early on a 30-yard goal from Stuart Ziegler. In the 3rd minute of action, Brice Hunt found Ziegler open in the middle of the field. Ziegler’s quick strike seemed to catch the Tiger Keeper by surprise and the Zizzers led 1-0. Zizzer Keeper Landon Perry kept the Tigers off the board with some good saves. But in the 15th minute the Tigers capitalized on a Zizzer defensive mistake. After a foul by the Zizzers, The Tiger free kick sailed wide of the far post. A Tiger player tracked down the ball and found a wide open Dakota Davis in front of the goal. Davis’ shot tied the game at 1-1. The score would remain that way until the second half.
In the 2nd minute of the second half, Josh Sims pass found a streaking Brice Hunt, who beat the Tiger Defense and placed a shot into the far corner for a 2-1 lead. Two minutes later, Hunt teamed up with Ziegler to create a scoring chance again. This time Chris Saner put the finishing touch on for a 3-1 Zizzer lead. In the 5th minute, Ziegler found Hunt who again placed a shot into the far lower corner. Despite creating more scoring chances, the Zizzers wouldn’t add to their lead. The game ended with West Plains winning 4-1. The Victory evened the Zizzers record at 1-1 on the season.
On Saturday morning, The Zizzers faced off against the Tates Creek Commodores from Lexington, KY. The game proved to be a very exciting match. West Plains got out to an early lead as David Evans notched his first Varsity Goal in the 11th minute. Stuart Ziegler dribbled down the left side and sent a cross in front of the goal. Justin Scicluna tried to knock it in, but got only enough of the ball to redirect it to the back post. David Evans met the ball about the edge of the 6-yard box and one timed it with his left foot for a 1-0 lead. Tates Creek had chances to draw level, but were turned away twice on great saves by Zizzer Keeper Landon Perry and again by Mike Moore as he cleared a ball off the goal line.
The Zizzers added to their lead in the 18th minute of the second half. Justin Scicluna dribbled into the left side of the 18-yard box. As Scicluna was almost at the goal line, he slid a pass toward the penalty spot where Shane Corl came running onto it and knocked in for a 2-0 lead. The Zizzers appeared to have the game wrapped up as time was getting short, but the Commodores wouldn’t quit. With about 10 minutes left in the game, Tates Creek changed formations to get more pressure on the Zizzer defense. The change paid off quickly. The Commodores cut the lead to 2-1 in the 33rd minute as #12 put a 30 yard shot over Landon Perry’s head and under the crossbar. In the 38th minute, #11 broke into the 18-yard box and slid a shot past the diving Perry to tie the game. Just as it looked like the game would end in a tie, Brice Hunt received a pass from Stuart Ziegler and raced down the right side, beat a defender and cut in toward the goal. Brice let go a hard shot that went off the Keeper’s hands and inside the near post for the game winner with 30 seconds left in the game. The win improved the Zizzers record to 2-1 on the season and set up a Championship Match against the host Quincy Blue Devils.
On Saturday afternoon, West Plains faced the host Quincy (IL) Blue Devils. Both teams entered the match with 2-0 tournament records. The Blue Devils came out strong stringing multiple passes together and creating several good scoring chances. Thanks to some good play by Landon Perry and the Zizzer defense, the score remained 0-0 until the12th minute. A weak pass from the middle of the Zizzers defensive half of the field was picked up by the Blue Devils who quickly turned the mistake into a Nick Lantz goal in a matter of seconds.
After the goal, the Zizzers actually seemed to settle into the game a little more and were able to create some chances of their own, but weren’t able to put anything in the net. Defensively the Zizzers played together and would bend at times, but didn’t break. The halftime score was 1-0 for the Blue Devils. After a Zizzer Goal Kick in the 14th minute, Justin Scicluna found himself with the ball in the middle of the field. Scicluna found Stuart Ziegler racing forward and sent a pass that put him in on goal. Ziegler placed a shot past the keeper to tie the game at 1-1.
Both teams battled hard the rest of the way, but the Blue Devils depth was wearing the Zizzers down. With about 10 minutes to play, West Plains tried to change formations to get more players forward in an attempt to win the tournament (A tie would have given the Championship to Quincy based on a Goals Allowed Tiebreaker). As soon as the Zizzers made the change, The Blue Devils exploited the extra space in the center of the field. Jacob Longo found himself left open in the middle and fired a shot past Landon Perry from outside the 18-yard box. That goal ended up being the game winner. The loss gave the Zizers a season record of 2-2 and a 2nd Place finish in the tournament.
The weekend was an enjoyable one for the Zizzers. The weather was great, the competition was great, and our performance as a team improved. We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. We left Quincy banged up and tired, but we also left as a better team. We’d like to thank Coach Longo and Coach Stratman (His Dad is a former West Plains Resident) and the rest of the folks at Quincy for the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the 1st Annual Brine Midwest Classic. It was a great time.
Scores for all the Brine Midwest Classic games:
Friday, August 31:
West Plains, MO – 4
Kirksville, MO – 1
Quincy, IL – 1
Tates Creek, KY – 0
Saturday, September 1:
West Plains, MO – 3
Tates Creek, KY – 2
Quincy, IL – 3
Kirksville, MO – 0
Quincy, IL – 2
West Plains, MO – 1
Tates Creek, KY – 4
Kirksville, MO – 1
Final Standings
Quincy, IL – 9 Points
West Plains, MO – 6 Points
Tates Creek, KY – 3 Points
Kirksville, MO – 0 Points