Though Joplin defeated McDonald County 8-0 during the Joplin Invitational soccer tournament less than two weeks ago, it didn’t deter the Mustangs from challenging the Eagles on Thursday.
Joplin (8-12) and McDonald County (9-8) took a scoreless match into the second half before the Eagles struck in the 48th minute. Joplin added a late goal in stoppage time to seal the 2-0 win over the Mustangs.
“We’ve got another week or so before districts and I think this was the style of play we are wanting to see going into districts,” Joplin coach Josh Thompson said. “It was a good step for us. We didn’t concede any goals and that is something we are trying to work on.”
“We played great,” McDonald County coach Nathan Haikey said. “We played them here two weeks ago in their tournament and they just ran it to us. We were able to regroup, and we are playing better soccer here as we head into districts. We just need to get more shots on target and in the box.”
Joplin played much of the first half on offense, but had little to show for it. It wasn’t from lack of effort or opportunities, though, as McDonald County freshman goalie Tomas De La Cruz had several fantastic saves through the first 40 minutes of action.
“We graduated two senior goalkeepers last year,” Haikey said. “We had two incoming freshmen that we didn’t really know who they were. But, we were fortunate to find them. Tomas had a couple really great saves in the first half.”
“We came into it with the main focus being just how we move as a team, allowing the goals to come,” Thompson said of his team’s play in the first half. “Unfortunately, in the first half, the goals didn’t come just yet. There was some good goalkeeping and some unlucky hits on our end. We had the opportunities we wanted to, but we were forcing some things that weren’t necessarily there. We were happy with how we played in the first half.”
With McDonald County in possession near midfield, Joplin’s Andrew Taylor stole the ball from a Mustang and fought off pressure as he dribbled down the field before firing a shot to the bottom, right corner, finding the back of the net in the eighth minute of the second half to put Joplin up 1-0.
“I love to see that from a team captain,” Thompson said. “We asked him the last game to start out playing defense. It is something we are trying to work with him on because he is used to attacking. We moved him into a more familiar role in the second half, and he got a goal out of it.”
Taylor struck again late in stoppage time, giving himself and the Eagles a pair of goals in the win.
“Our big thing is showing that whenever we are moving together, and we are defending first, goals are still going to happen,” Thompson said. “It was good to see them get that goal there late just because the boys deserved more goals than what the scoreboard showed.”
DISTRICT MATCHUP SET
The Class 4 District 12 matchups are set, with fourth-seeded Joplin taking on top-seeded Nixa at 5 p.m. on Nov. 2.
“We’ve gotten to play Nixa before,” Thompson said. “It’s going to be a lot of film study to see what worked and what didn’t. … We are optimistic going into the district game that we’ve got a pretty good shot to get a win.”
UP NEXT
Joplin hosts Parkview at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
