If the Zizzer Soccer Team could skip the first half and start things off in the second half, things would be much better. The Zizzers met the Carthage Tigers in Springfield on Thursday and the Tigers came out ready to play. The Zizzers were a little slow rising to the occasion. By the time the Zizzers settled in and began to get things going, they’d already dug themselves into a 7-0 hole. Cole Beckham opened the scoring for Carthage in the 4th minute. The Tigers were flying around the field and the Zizzers failed to stay with their marks. A minute later Matt Robinson gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Joe Curti added another goal in the 9th minute, followed by Christian Solis in the 13th minute.
In the 18th minute, Robinson scored his second goal of the game followed by Malaquias Ortiz in the 21st minute and Phillip DeVillers in the 28th minute. The last ten minutes of the first half, the Zizzers started playing better and actually moving the ball offensively. In the 32nd minute, Zizzer Jesse Wright scored his first Varsity Goal from 15 yards out on an assist by Nathan Moore. The score would stand at 7-1 in favor of the Tigers at halftime.
In the second half, the Zizzers took some chances by pushing more players up offensively. The move put more pressure on the defense, but also gave the Zizzers more scoring chances. In the 4th minute of the half, Beckham added his second goal of the game. The Zizzers got one back just four minutes later as Cory Parks played a ball down the line to Seth Phegley. Phegley cut in to his left and then sent a left footed shot past the diving keeper for his first Varsity Goal. The Zizzers would get some more scoring opportunities, but were a little slow to pull the trigger on some shots. The Tigers would add two more goals from Landon Greathouse in the15th and 25th minutes of the half to finish off the scoring.
The effort in the second half was tremendous. The boys kept fighting hard. We just have to have that focus and determination from the first whistle.
In JV action, Carthage defeated the Zizzers 10-0. The Zizzers went with a new lineup and showed good effort, but are struggling defensively with marking up opposing players and getting good pressure on the ball. Carthage got goals in the 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 28th, and 33rd minutes in the first half. In the second half, they added goals in the 6th, 7th, 13th and 15th minutes. The Zizzers need to keep there heads up and work as a team to try and get better.
Up next for the Varsity is the Camdenton Tournament. On Friday the Zizzers will face catholic at 6:00pm. On Saturday they will face Sullivan at 9:00am and Fulton at 5:00pm. Both teams will travel to Parkview on Tuesday to take on the Vikings. Varsity will play first at 4:00pm on Tuesday.
