WEBB CITY, Mo. — Over the span of a few days in late October, Central Ozark Conference schools Carl Junction and Willard played a pair of matches with a similar final score.
In their second match, Willard defeated Carl Junction 2-1 Saturday to advance to the district semifinals on Tuesday against Belton and end the Bulldogs’ season at 5-19 overall.
“That’s the second time we played them this week,” Carl Junction coach Ed Miller said. “We lost to them 4-3 on Tuesday, then we turn around tonight and lose 2-1. We had some chances again to score tonight. I thought we had a better first half, as far as possession and momentum, as far as putting pressure on them. In the second half, they came out and passed the ball and neutralized us a little bit. We got a couple chances, but we couldn’t finish.
“Proud of the guys’ effort. They did a good job today, and a good job finishing the season. I thought we improved as the season went on, and we just needed to score some more goals.”
Willard senior forward Caleb Kuchta opened the scoring with a goal 7:43 in the match and Carl Junction sophomore Gavin Cowger earned the Bulldogs a 1-all score at halftime with his penalty kick goal 14:46 remaining before the half.
Willard junior Marseli Popesku scored the winning goal with 28:35 remaining in regulation.
The Bulldogs made their efforts for an equalizer, but Willard senior goalkeeper Chris Massey and the Tigers managed to keep Carl Junction at bay for the victory.
Carl Junction’s seniors played their final games Saturday.
“We have seven guys and I think four or five of them have played quite a bit all four years,” Miller said. “They’re good kids. They came out and worked hard, and they’ve put the time in to try and improve the program and make it better.
“It has got better each year as we’ve progressed through, but it’s not showing in the win column so much. We have five wins this year, but we were on the short side of a lot of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 games. Just trying to find the back of the net. I thought we outplayed some of those teams. We just didn’t come up with some goals. We’ve improved on the field and as a possession team.”
Willard (15-10) plays Belton (9-9) in the second semifinal Tuesday. Belton defeated McDonald County 2-0 in the fourth and final match of quarterfinal Saturday.
