STORY BY MAKENNA ALLEN
It might have been a Halloween night game, but there was nothing spooky about the FHSU women’s soccer 3-0 shutout against Missouri Western State University in their first-round game of the MIAA Tournament. The holiday-themed contest kicked off in Hays at 6:00 p.m.
The Tigers dominated offensively during the game’s first half with nine shots on goal to the Griffons’ three. Within the first 20 minutes of the half, the Tigers had two high shots on goal that both bounced off the crossbar.
The work of junior midfielder Chloe Montano and freshman forward Cailey Perkins could have allowed the Tigers to lead 2-0 early in the game’s first half. However, the only score of the half was attributed to senior midfielder, Vianei Sanchez. Sanchez’s fifth goal of the season carried the Tigers to halftime with the momentum of a 1-0 lead.
“We had chance after chance after chance. It felt like one of those games where something crazy was going to happen and they were going to get one and we were going to be down 1-0 after we should have been up 3-0,” said Head Coach Blake Reynolds. “I think that released a little bit of pressure for us and allowed us to keep playing freely through the end of the first half.”
This first half lead could have meant the difference between defeat and progression to the next round of the tournament. However, the Tigers blazed into the second half with an unassisted goal by junior forward Darby Hirsh. Hirsch’s goal allowed the Tigers to lead 2-0 with over 42 minutes left in the game.
“Darby’s goal, she’ll tell you she shot it but that was a cross,” said Reynolds. “We’ll take it though. We hadn’t had one of those this year.”
Reynolds had encouraged his players to fight hard during the first part of this second half in order to further secure the team’s lead.
“I told them that at the start of the second half we needed 15 really good minutes to start this second half. You know they’re going to come out firing,” said Reynolds. “They’re desperate. They know they have 45 minutes left in their season.”
Even when it seemed the Tigers had the ball game clinched, still shutting out the competition 2-0, Perkins dropped her eighth goal of the season into the net. Following the goal by the team’s leading scorer, the Tigers cruised through the final two minutes of the game.
These final two goals also allowed the Tigers to surpass their season average of 1.2 goals per game. The Griffons matched up closely with an average 1.6 goals.
The close match between the two games ran far deeper than just average goal scoring. The Tigers entered the first game of the 2018 MIAA Tournament as the fourth seed with a record of 8-3. The Griffons trailed close behind as the fifth seed with a record of 7-4.
This isn’t the first time that the two teams have come head to head this year. The last time the two teams faced off during the regular season, the Tigers emerged victorious from the game with a final score of 2-1.
As the Tigers rallied for another triumph over the St. Joseph, Missouri school, the women’s team will progress to the next round of the MIAA Tournament in Edmond, Oklahoma, Fri. Nov. 2, against the University of Central Oklahoma.
“The biggest part is recovering. We just played Sunday and then we played today and now we’ve got to turn around and play Friday,” said Reynolds. “It’s hard. We’re at the end of the season and now we’ve got to play more games in a shorter amount of time.”