Sikeston allows dooming late goal in loss to Perryville

Friday, March 27, 2015
Sikeston's Grace Hamra dribbles towards the goal against Perryville Thursday during the quarterfinal round of the Noon Optimist Club tournament at Cape Central High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

sports@standard-democrat.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Just when it looked like Sikeston would be taking Perryville to overtime Thursday in the opening round of the Cape Noon Optimist Tournament, a breakdown in the final minutes proved too much to overcome.

Perryville senior Marinna Mahathath connected on a free kick to provide her team with the game's only goal, handing the Lady Bulldogs their second straight loss of the season.

"I just don't think we played smart soccer," Sikeston head coach Gabe Dement said. "Some of the players had some aggression here and there. It wasn't consistent though. If we're going to win some games this year and do well it's going to have to be consistent and we're going to have to play as a team better than we did today."

Only a few minutes before the game-changing goal, the Lady Bulldogs had a few opportunities of their own that nearly put them in the driver's seat.

With 10 minutes to play Larysa McClellon sent a shot just wide of the net and, two minutes later, a pass from McClellon to Torrie Helms led to a shot blocked by Perryville's keeper.

Perryville changed the momentum soon after, controlling the ball and working it down the field into Sikeston territory. However, when trying to clear the ball following a Lady Pirate scoring opportunity the Lady Bulldogs gave control back to Perryville.

As they pushed back toward Sikeston's net a Lady Pirate earned a free kick on a tripping call from 31 yards out at the right hash mark.

Mahathath was given the kicking honors and sent a shot over the Lady Bulldog's wall high and towards center-net. Her shot was out of reach for leaping keeper Madeline Witt as it soared in a few inches under the crossbar for the game-winner with 2:29 to play.

"We had a goal kick and we didn't front on the kick," Dement said of the possession before the goal. "You have to make sure you're between their player and the goal in every goal kick because you might mis-hit it or it might be a bad kick. What happens is we don't do that, their balls loose and our girls being aggressive and trying to get to the ball before she does and tripped her. The Perryville girl hit a really good shot over the wall. Not a whole lot Witt can do there."

Mahathath's shot made good on her head coach Jerry Fulton's decision to switch up his normal game plan. Typically on free kicks in these situations, Fulton relies on junior Emma Nelson, but liked what he saw in practice from Mahathath.

Sikeston's Claudea Kuykendall (9) tracks down a loose ball in front of a Perryville player Thursday during the quarterfinal round of the Noon Optimist Club tournament at Cape Central High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

"I watched practice and Marina has the best foot on our team as far as placing the ball," Fulton said. "Usually Emma will kick that ball. I called Emma off. It was a great call at the time, but they don't always work that way."

Sikeston still had time to respond, but couldn't capitalize. McClellon was chasing down two defenders on Sikeston's offensive end when they kicked the ball out of the back of play to set up a corner kick with close to a minute to play. By the time the Lady Bulldogs retrieved a ball and set up the kick only 35 seconds remained.

Kicking from the left corner, Sikeston's corner kick was off it's mark and instead of a scrum of Lady Bulldogs in front of the net making a play, the ball hit the side of the net where it was retrieved by Perryville.

"The second part of the second half Larysa and Torrie were working really well together and getting some chances," Dement said. "We just couldn't bury one."

He added, "There's just not enough talk and communication out there. The positioning issues, that's there too. We have to understand when to make runs and when to play defense. We had some chances, don't get me wrong."

Now at 1-2, the Lady Bulldogs will have a chance to quickly rebound. They'll play Poplar Bluff today at 5:30 p.m. in the second day of the tournament at Cape Central High School.

"They're disappointed and I'm disappointed right now, but there's two ways to go," Dement said. "We can either stay the way we are right now or get better from our mistakes. If we're going to be a team that wins some games this year we're going to have to be one that learns from our mistakes.

"Each and every one of the them gets better and helps each learn as a family. If we can do stuff like that then we'll get better and do fine."

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