The Lady Zizzer Soccer Team traveled to Harrison, AR to kick off the season Wednesday evening. The Lady Goblins, who entered the game with a 6-5 record, wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Harrison took the lead in the 4th minute of play. Jenny Thompson received a pass inside the box. As the defender stepped toward her, Thompson found Jordan Rudelis wide open inside the six yard box where see sent a shot past Sammi Phegley for a 1-0 Lady Goblin lead. Ten minutes later, Thompson found the net herself putting Harrison up 2-0. Sami Hennessy would make it 3-0 in the 17th minute, and Thompson would score her 2nd goal in the 19th minute. That would do it for the scoring in the first half. The Lady Zizzers showed a little life near the end of the half as they started to communicate better and get more movement off the ball.
In the second half, Harrison came right out and scored in the first minute of play with Rudelis netting her second of the game. This time the Lady Zizzers answered back. Freshman Natasha Ugbah received a ball on the left side, dribbled toward the goal and took a shot from 12 yards out that beat the goalkeeper to the near post. West Plains picked things up a little for the next ten minutes. Harrison would increase their lead in the 12th minute of the half after a Lady Zizzer turnover in the back led to a Chandler Rae goal and a 6-1 advantage for the Lady Goblins. The best goal of the night came in the 36th minute of the half on a blast to the far upper corner by Jenny Thompson from about 18 yards out. The goal was the third of the night for the Senior from Harrison. The final tally would come just two minutes later as Leanna Zimmerman found the back of the net. After moving some people around, the Lady Zizzers created some opportunities near the end of the match, but couldn’t cut into the Lady Goblin lead.
Despite the score, the game was a good one for the Lady Zizzers. We will be better for it in the long run. There were some positives to take from the game. At times, we were able to connect some passes together and try to do some good things. Having a game under their belts will help the girls see the areas we need to improve. A couple of areas that stood out were inconsistent communication, lack of movement off the ball, and not seeing the whole field. The girls will get a chance to improve on Wednesday’s performance with games at Home against the Nixa Eagles at Home on Thursday. The JV game will kick off at 5:00pm with the Varsity match to follow. Come out and join us!