Villa’s game plan was pretty evident early on; blanket SK’s leading scorer in senior Jessie Cooper. Wherever Cooper went, she donned a blue shadow. 5 minutes into the match, Cooper took a through ball down the left side of the field. Cooper drew pressure from the Villa defense but was able to get a cross off from a foot off the goal line. Cooper’s cross found a sprinting Aris Kuntz who knocked the ball past the Villa Keeper from the 6 yard mark.
Villa would tie the game on virtually the first time that they were able to get the ball into Pioneer territory in the 10th minute of the game. The goal seemed to put a little more positive pressure on SK. The girls stepped up the offensive pressure and got shot after shot off. The Villa defense would bend but would not break until the 38th minute. That’s when Kaitlyn Book got off a nice shot just outside of the 18 yard box to give the Neers a one goal lead going into the half.
The game would take an interesting October turn 10 minutes into the second half as lighting was spotted off to the northwest. The game would be delayed for about 30 minutes which gave both teams a nice break. You have to believe that the break provided a little more boost to the Lightning who rarely made substitutions during the match.
SK would get a lot of pressure after the lightning break but would not score until just over two minutes to go in the match when Kuntz would place a perfectly timed shot past the Villa keeper. SK wins by a final score of 3-1.
A few thoughts other thoughts about the game;
*Villa took away some of Jessie Cooper’s scoring opportunities that then were presented to Aris Kuntz. Aris looked like herself again tonight and played with a lot of confidence after dealing with a knee injury for most of the season.
*Jessie Cooper’s assist on the first goal was amazing. I thought the ball was going out but somehow the senior was able to center the ball right in front of the net for and easy SK goal. Cooper will likely see additional pressure in future tourney games and will need to look for similar connections for SK to be successful.
*Neer kudos to Shelby Meier who played tonight with a banged up knee and will have surgery after the season. Meier had some key stops by winning the ball out of the air to break up some of the Villa scoring threats down the stretch.
*The bite in the Bulldog; Tiffany Landrum ended up with a caution after a questionable call went against her sister. Gotta love it.
*SK will take on the winner of the Dixie/Scott game on Friday night at 6:00 at Dixie.
C. Landrum gets drilled in the first half.
Villa played hard and physical with a size advantage over the Lady Neers.
Villa giving chase as Jessie Cooper gets ready to make the cross for the first SK goal.
SK had several set plays and corners but failed to score on any of them.
