CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The Carl Junction Bulldogs scored three second-half goals on their way to a 4-0 win Wednesday over the visiting Joplin Eagles at Bulldog Stadium.
Carl Junction senior forward Hannah Franks netted a hat trick and senior goalkeeper Chrissy Figueroa maintained the shutout with four saves in the second half after a quiet first half offensively for Joplin.
The Bulldogs avoided a three-match losing streak and improved to 18-4 overall and finished Central Ozark Conference play 5-4 entering Thursday’s regular season finale on the road against Springfield Catholic, weather permitting.
“I thought we came out flat,” Carl Junction coach Ed Miller said. “We weren’t making passes, we weren’t moving, and we were just standing. It has something to do with playing a 4 o’clock game instead of an evening game.
“In the second half, we talked about some stuff that we were looking to do, and we figured it out. Hannah had a big night with a hat trick, Hailey (Merwin) got a goal, and Allie (Wrestler) got a couple assists, so overall not too bad. We got a shutout and Chrissy did a great job in goal again. We’re looking forward to districts on Saturday. Of course, we have a game (Thursday) … if we don’t get rained out.”
Franks scored Carl Junction’s lone goal of the first half as the Bulldogs took a majority of their first-half shots in the first 20 minutes of the half.
Franks scored Carl Junction’s second and fourth goals, and junior midfielder Hailey Merwin scored the Bulldogs’ third goal.
The Bulldogs and the Eagles were originally scheduled to play their varsity match Tuesday night, but it was pushed back to Wednesday due to inclement weather that arrived a few minutes before opening kickoff.
The Bulldogs honored their seniors Figueroa, Gracie Shoultz, Franks, Samantha Sims, Jocelyn Brown, Lexi Carpenter, Constance Graham, Mary Parker, Allie Wrestler, and Alyssa Beard, as well as exchange students Michelle Hsu and Mai Abotair, on the field Tuesday in a ceremony before the incoming weather.
Carl Junction got to honor the seniors twice, on consecutive nights.
“It (the weather) messed up our party last night a little bit,” Miller said. “We came back tonight to celebrate with some cookies and some drinks and everything. We let our seniors finish it on the field in their last home game. We got everybody some playing time, and we’re happy with that. It was hot, so we played everybody.
“We’re going to miss them. Four years I’ve been with them. Some of them played a lot of varsity from Day 1 and some played JV and worked their way up to varsity. We’ve got a little bit of a mixture with all our seniors, but they’ve all been a big part of our team. We’re here to celebrate them tonight … but we’re going to miss all 10 of them next year.”
Carl Junction earned the third seed in Class 3 District 7 and the Bulldogs play a district quarterfinal Saturday against Raytown South.
Notre Dame de Sion and St. Michael the Archangel are the top two seeds in a district that’s heavily Kansas City area.
Fifth-seeded Webb City plays tournament host Belton on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Joplin closed out the regular season 5-11 overall and 1-8 COC with the 4-0 loss to Carl Junction on Wednesday.
“Our Thursday game vs. Parkview got cancelled so now we’re just looking at playing Ozark on Saturday and gearing up for trying to do a postseason run,” Joplin coach Josh Thompson said. “We know that we have a tough one in front of us.
“I think heat got us a little bit (Wednesday). First half, we came out soft and second half, we gave them a little bit of room to shoot, but we played a lot better. Even though they had a better second half on the scoreboard, I think we looked better on the field in the second half. We forced their keeper to make some good saves. She had at least one in the upper 90, on a free kick from our used-to-be center back (Cielo Martinez) that’s never taken one on frame in her life. She put one right where it needed to be and their keeper made a great save.”
The Eagles are the seventh seed in Class 4 District 5 and they draw a 17-5 Ozark in the district quarterfinals Saturday in Nixa.
In their match earlier this season on April 20, Ozark scored four goals in the final 10 minutes and 4 seconds before halftime on their way to a 5-0 halftime lead and 8-0 mercy-rule win.
“They’re having a great season,” Thompson said. “We know what we’re up against. We’ve played them before. We played really good first 20 minutes. We just dropped everything out and were able to try and force some opportunities on them. We’ve grown a lot since then, so we’re going to try and be more consistent and hopefully get a surprise opportunity again.”
Carthage has the fifth seed and the Tigers play Springfield Central on Saturday. Springfield Central defeated Carthage 1-0 back on March 29.
Neosho has the eighth seed and the Wildcats draw the formidable top seed Kickapoo, who enters Saturday’s quarterfinal 18-5-1 overall with 10 straight victories.
The Chiefs have won five straight district titles.
