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Kelly's losing skid continues after 2-0 road loss at Poplar Bluff
POPLAR BLUFF -- A couple tough breaks and the losing streak continued for the first-year varsity Kelly Lady Hawks.
Poplar Bluff, now on a three-game winning streak, netted a goal in each half for a 2-0 win Wednesday night at Whiteley Park.
Kelly, now scoreless in four straight games, out-shot Poplar Bluff in the first half but didn't have anything to show for it. It put five on net in the first half and put just one more on in the second as Poplar Bluff freshman goalkeeper Shelby Sievers secured her second straight shutout.
Kelly (1-5-1) last scored in a win against Cape Central on March 24.
"We have trouble at times," Kelly coach Lance Powers said. "We get some opportunities and we just don't capitalize. We don't finish very well right now."
Powers thought as games go on, his team will figured it out.
"With experience, we'll get better at finishing," he said. "We're just not hungry enough and not crashing that goal like we need to."
Poplar Bluff (4-4) scored its first goal of the game with seven minutes to go in the first half. Freshman Shelbey Johnson sent a ball ahead to sophomore Kaitlyn Harris. Harris played a Kelly defender 1-on-1 until Lady Hawks goalkeeper Shanda Reed slid out to challenge her in the middle of the penalty area.
Harris won that challenge and used her body to put the ball in behind Reed. It was her first goal of her career.
"She finished it," Poplar Bluff coach Nick Toniazzo said of Harris. "It's great seeing her starting to finish because she gets so many shots every game. We've been working on that. It's coming around. She's developed so much since Day 1."
One of Kelly's best scoring chances came six minutes into the second half. Samantha Ratledge sprinted with a Poplar Bluff defender up the left side of the field but sent her hard shot wide right of Sievers.
Just four minutes later, Kelly tipped a ball into its own net to make it 2-0 Lady Mules.
Johnson dribbled the ball into the right corner and crossed it. Poplar Bluff freshman Neida Grimaldo and a Kelly defender each may have got a piece of the ball as got around Reed. Harris followed the ball into the net, but never touched it.
"I'm not 100 percent sure how that happened," Powers said. "They said it might have been a little bit of a misread."
Kelly gave a good effort defensively and held an opponent to two goals or less for the third time out its seven games.
"We've got an outstanding back line," Powers said. "We've got one of the best keepers around here."