Cassville swipes 1-0 win over MCHS
ANDERSON — Cassville scored a goal in the third minute of play and battled McDonald County the rest of the way, making that lone goal hold up for a 1-0 Big 8 Conference win Tuesday night at Mustang Stadium.
Cassville improves to 4-10 on the year and 1-5 in conference play, while McDonald County falls to 0-14 and 0-3.
“We saw (McDonald County) in the jamboree at the first of the season, and they moved the ball really well,” Cassville head coach Jake Forste said. “I think they picked up an injury or two, but they’re very good at switching through their defensive backfield, so we knew we had to get up and pressure them a little bit so they didn’t have time to work the ball from side to side. We just wanted to come in, press them a bit and maybe get some counter-attack chances and go from there.”
A lot of the action was tied up in the middle of the field throughout the match, with neither team gaining an overwhelming advantage after that early goal.
“We were able to control the midfield and put them under a lot of pressure,” said McDonald County first-year head coach Nathan Haikey. “We had our chances on goal but just couldn’t convert. That’s kind of been the theme this season, but we came in Friday and practiced and went hard knowing we had the weekend to recover. We just worked on connecting three passes, then we tried to connect three more passes, and you kind of saw it tonight.”
McDonald County fans also saw junior Anna Clarkson fight through the Cassville defense on breakaway attempts in each half, only to see Lady Wildcat keeper Ava Hinson come up big with a save on each attempt.
“Their keeper was good to
night,” said Haikey. “We addressed that at halftime, about playing that final ball through a little sooner so the keeper would get put under pressure and have to make a decision.”
Forste, who said his team “didn’t take a ton of chances in the second half,” pointed out that “in the last 20, we just kind of sat in and tried to force them to come out a little bit.”
“But it feels good to see a zero on the board,” he added. “We’ve been giving up some crooked numbers lately. It was a good game, and they’re well coached.”
Even through the dark clouds of the loss, Haikey said he saw bright spots in the play of the Lady Mustangs.
“Tonight, you could see us playing with some logic and some identity about us,” he said. “We were just unlucky in the final third. Really, the 1-0 loss is disappointing, but at the same time, I’m pretty proud with the way we played tonight and how we kind of found our identity and what we’ve tried to play like all year. It’s been coming; it’s just that sometimes you’ve got to play those teams that are on the same level to where you can realize and see what you’ve been doing in practice, and it kind of comes to fruition for us.”
With senior keeper Kadence Elliott out while preparing for the MCHS band’s upcoming all-state competition, Haikey turned to juniors Natalie Gillming (first half) and Yarecci Quintero (second half) to work in goal against the Lady Wildcats.
“That was Natalie’s first chance to play keeper for us this year,” the coach said. “She’s a three-sport athlete and came to us and said she’d like to try it, and she did a good job. And Yarecci’s a confident player who’s played keeper for us a few times this season. You can put her anywhere on the field and she’s going to do exactly what she’s supposed to do and what she’s been trained to do. She’s a competitor.”
MCCAULEY CATHOLIC 3, MCDONALD COUNTY 2
The Lady Mustangs dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision to McCauley Catholic on Thursday, April 20, in a match played on the pitch at Mustang Stadium.
McDonald County junior Mayson Ardemagni scored both of her team’s goals, the first breaking a scoreless tie in the first half.
“Her first goal was a pretty decent shot in the first half,” Haikey said. “She was just a little bit off to the right and hit it in.”
McCauley Catholic would counter before the half with a similar goal.
Ardemagni’s second goal McDonald County Lady Mustang senior Lexi Abbott (21) tries to settle a pass off her leg Tuesday against Cassville. The Lady Wildcats won the Big 8 Conference match played at Mustang Stadium by a 1-0 score. came in the second half, but McCauley Catholic answered to tie the score on an eye-opener of a goal.
“Their second goal came when a player turned our outside defender, the wind stops blowing, and she was probably 30 yards out and puts it in the upper 90 on the far corner,” said Haikey.
Later in the match, the Lady Mustangs gave up a penalty for the decisive third goal.
UP NEXT
McDonald County’s next two games are both Big 8 Conference matchups. The first is against Marshfield today, beginning at 4:30 at Mustang Stadium, and the second is an away match scheduled for Thursday, May 4, at 4:30 p.m., against Logan Rogersville.