NEOSHO, Mo. — The Neosho Wildcats and the Carthage Tigers played a match Tuesday night at historic Bob Anderson Stadium befitting of their rivalry.
Thrilling runs for the ball and ultimately the goal, tough defensive plays, stellar saves by both teams’ goalkeepers, and two beyond enthusiastic fan bases cheering their squads on for the full 80 minutes of soccer.
Neosho erased a 2-1 deficit with two second-half goals, including the game winner by senior Juan Perez late in regulation, and reserve senior goalie Bailey Motley preserved a hard-fought 3-2 Neosho victory with his fists.
“Boy, he came in, not a ton of experience playing goalie,” Neosho coach Steve Schnackenberg said. “He just put his head down and took care of business. Three great saves, those punches at the end. Outstanding.
“He’s a senior. He played on the field for us last couple years, and we were just searching for a goalie. He wanted to give it a shot. He’s in that backup role. Jonathan (Tribbey) went down and (Motley) stepped up.”
At the 14-minute, 9-second mark of the first half, in the midst of a mad scene at the net, Carthage took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Silas Laytham, Neosho’s starting goalie Jonathan Tribbey went down in a heap and eventually walked off the field with a little help, and Carthage went a man down with a red card given to Edson Lopez.
This play had a major impact on the remainder of the match.
“Very disappointing result,” Carthage coach Jacob Osborne said. “It was not a deserved result. We played great, especially being down a man for a good chunk of the game undeservedly. We outshot them 26-16. We out-possessed them.
“Leaving the field tonight, I felt like we should have won, but we did make mistakes and we missed opportunities that we should have put away and we had defensive breakdowns that gave them opportunities, as well.
“Neosho did a good job of taking advantage of those mistakes we made on both sides of the ball, and they finished with a 3-2 win. It’s one of those that will be a little bit bitter leaving, because I don’t feel like it was deserved for what the kids put into the night. Sometimes, that’s soccer, though.”
Carthage went into halftime with a 2-1 lead on an Eric Garcia goal with an assist from Neyzer Ramos. Ramos assisted on both Carthage goals.
Christian Ornelas scored Neosho’s lone goal in the first 40 minutes.
The score remained 2-1 until Fabiani Ohajaca tied it up with 18:03 remaining in regulation.
Neosho improved to 3-0 overall and Central Ozark Conference entering Thursday’s match against Big 8 school Aurora at Bob Anderson.
“Two teams that can play good defense and know what they’re doing back there,” Schnackenberg said. “We talked about it all week. Just finding those chances and putting them away. Pretty much all the chances we had, we put away.
“Our defenders, they play hard every minute. They hardly come off the field, and they still gut it out. You can’t say enough for them.”
Carthage fell to 5-2 overall and 2-1 COC entering Thursday’s home match against Springfield Central.
Tuesday night marked the latest chapter in the Carthage and Neosho soccer rivalry.
“Carthage and Neosho, it’s a good rivalry,” Schnackenberg said. “We battle hard every year. They got us last year. We got them the year before that. We go back-and-forth. It’s always a good game to be at, and I suggest everybody comes every time we play Carthage.”
