Lady Hornets Soccer
4/22/2016 Kirksville 2, at Chillicothe 1

 

 (Story by Coach Lance Harvey)
   Chillicothe lost a close match to Kirksville by a score of 2-1 at home on Friday evening. The Hornets controlled the tempo for most of the first half, out shooting Kirksville 11-2 but only managed a single goal. About 19 minutes into the first half, sophomore midfielder Morgan Grable intercepted and pass from the goalie and fired a shot from about 30 yards out that sailed into the upper left corner of the goal. Chilli went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
     Seven minutes into the second half, the Lady Tigers took possession near midfield and put together several passes that left Chillicothe's defense out of position and the Kirksville left forward pushed the ball past goalkeeper Jaylene Sturguess to tie the game at 1-1.
     Ten minutes later with Chillicothe building an attack on offense, a collision just outside of the box between forward Harlie Jones and a defender left Jones writhing on the turf with an foot injury. The coaches went to attend to Jones and a heated discussion between Coach Lance Harvey and the center ref led to a red card for the coach. The rest of the half was played evenly until the nine minute mark.
     That is when a Kirksville player made a run toward goal with the ball, the forward touched the ball slightly too far to catch up to and Sturguess slid in to take possession. As the Kirksville player and Chillicothe defender both left their feet in order to avoid the sliding Sturguess, the ref called and foul and pointed to the penalty spot. Kirksville converted the penalty kick to go up 2-1 and managed to hold off any further Chillicothe attack until the end of the match.
     Coach Harvey praised his entire team for working hard in the face of adversity. He also gave credit to a tough Kirksville opponent and was pleased with the two teams for their display of self control in such and intense match. Chillicothe will most likely have a chance to play a third decisive match when district play begins on May 14th