Lady Bulldog soccer dissects Poplar Bluff

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs soccer team dismantled the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules on Monday night at the Sikeston Complex, 8-0.

From the start it was clear that Sikeston had the superior speed and skill players up top on offense in junior Jordi Ferrell, sophomore Abbi Keefer and freshman Emily Eaves.

Ferrell and Keefer led the offensive charge for Sikeston in the contest. Keefer led the Lady Bulldogs with four goals, which tied the school record she holds with Ferrell and Ferrell netted two goals against Poplar Bluff. Both recorded an assist apiece for Sikeston, while Eaves earned two.

"I think we showed early that we were quicker than their defense," said Sikeston head coach Derrick Long. "Poplar Bluff tried to push up offensively and we responded with nice, aggressive play on offense."

Sophomore Ariel Reynolds opened up the scoring for Sikeston four minutes into the match. Reynolds put the ball past Lady Mules keeper Ashley Burke on a nice assist from Keefer.

Up 1-0 and sensing that they had the superior club, Sikeston got a bit overaggressive after the Reynolds goal. The Lady Bulldogs were called for numerous offsides in the first 20 minutes of the contest that negated several scoring opportunities.

"We were trying to lead our forwards with the pass and it led to a lot of offsides in the first half," said Long. "We had the speed, but I think the girls got a bit antsy trying to make a play. At times we got over anxious on offense. I like the aggression we showed, but I don't want the girls to start anticipating"

The Lady Bulldogs settled down midway through the first half and scored two goals over a two minute time frame. At 23:00, Ferrell scored her first goal of the game on an assist from fellow junior Kaitlyn Turnbow.

One minute after the Ferrell goal, Keefer netted her first goal of the match with a nice deke of a Bluff defender and put it past an overmatched Burke in goal. Laura Atchison assisted on the Keefer goal and Sikeston led 3-0.

Two minutes before the half, Ferrell scored her second goal on a misplay by Burke in front of the goal. Burke could not handle or clear the ball and Ferrell kicked the ball into the empty net. Atchison was awarded the assist.

The Lady Bulldogs led 4-0 at halftime and outshot Poplar Bluff 21-2 in the opening half.

"They didn't have a lot of good looks," said Long, "but Amber (Minner) made a nice early save that could have changed the whole complexion of the game. It kind of went downhill after that."

Poplar Bluff head coach Mark Papp made a change in goal to start the second half and replaced Burke with sophomore Meagan Stucker. The change did not stop the offensive onslaught by the Lady Bulldogs.

Four minutes into the second half, Jennifer Millington headed in a goal on a terrific corner kick by Ferrell. At the 53-minute mark, Keefer got her second goal of the contest. Keefer got lose past the Lady Mules defense and sent a wicked shot on goal that Stucker somehow blocked with her hands.

However, Stucker could not control the ball and Keefer got the rebound and calmly put the ball in goal. Turnbow was credited with the assist and Sikeston led 6-0.

Keefer scored the last two goals for Sikeston at the 63rd and 68-minute mark. Both goals were assisted by Eaves.

"Eaves is getting better and better up top," said Long. "She had some nice assists and is hard to defend with her speed. Ashley Angle and Katie DeLaRosa played some good defense and didn't allow Poplar Bluff much in the way of offense."

Minner recorded the shutout in goal for Sikeston and recorded nine saves. The Lady Bulldogs peppered whomever was in goal for the Lady Mules and recorded 35 shots in the game.

Sikeston (6-2) will participate in the Carbondale, Ill. Tournament this weekend. On Friday, the Lady Bulldogs will battle a tough Springfield, Ill. team at 4:30 p.m.

In the junior varsity match, Poplar Bluff defeated Sikeston 3-1. Arriane MacGillvray recorded the goal with the assist from Amy Rushing. Sikeston is now 1-2 on the year.

POPLAR BLUFF -- The Sikeston golf team placed fifth in the 13-team Poplar Bluff Invitational on Monday.

"Today we played much better as a team," Sikeston coach Rick Oetting said. "When you have Bluff at home they are tough, but even tougher was Springfield's Glendale team shooting a team score of 300 followed by Bluff's 303."

Bill Green led the Bulldogs with an 82. Dakota Trevino shot an 83, De Bizzell 89 and Dustin Hampton 91.

"I felt good about our fifth place finish," Oetting said. "We had a rough week before the spring break and this is a move in the right direction. We have three more matches this week and it will be a test of our mettle."

Final standings

300 Glendale

303 Poplar Bluff

334 Caruthersville

335 Jackson

345 Sikeston

349 Notre Dame

354 Cape Central

354 Dexter

370 Bluff Maroon

384 Kennett

396 Doniphan

403 Clearwater

429 Bloomfield

Chaffee 14, Scott City 5

Chaffee 004 120 7 - 14 8 2

Scott City 031 100 0 - 5 8 9

WP - Adam Uhrahn. LP - Josh Hanson. 3B - Scott City: Blake Dirnberger, Rynn Eskew (2). 2B - Chaffee: Uhrahn, Chris Hanback, Jerrod Steger. Multiple hitters - Chaffee: Steger 2-6. Scott City: Dirnberger 3-4, Eskew 2-3. Records - Chaffee (7-3)

SCOTT CITY -- The Chaffee Red Devils recorded a road win over the Scott City Rams on Monday afternoon, 14-5.

Chaffee took advantage of nine Ram errors and opened up a close game with seven runs in the top of the seventh to earn the win.

Jerrod Steger led the offensive charge for the Red Devils with two hits. Adam Uhrahn picked up the win on the mound for Chaffee going three innings and allowed only one hit, walked one and struck out two.

Blake Dirnberger banged out three hits for Scott City and Rynn Eskew added two hits.

Chaffee (7-3) travels to Dexter (6-1) on Thursday at 4 p.m.

HOLCOMB -- The Portageville Bulldog baseball dropped a close game to Holcomb, 7-6 on Monday.

Further details were not available at press time.