Sikeston soccer team edges Farmington for second win

SIKESTON -- Sikeston's soccer team pulled out a 2-1 win over Farmington on Monday, earning their second victory of the season.

"I thought it was a really big win for us," said Sikeston coach Derrick Long.

"We've been struggling getting wins this year, and we played a pretty tough Farmington team. They were senior loaded, they had 14 seniors, kind of like we were last year. We were going against that kind of experience and we played them pretty tough."

The Bulldogs fell behind early, scoring an "own-goal" at the 20 minute mark in the first half. Attempting to clear the ball, Sikeston accidentally kicked the ball in their own net to give Farmington at 1-0 lead.

"That was tough," said Long. "It would've been easy to get down and give (Farmington) a little momentum after that, but we kept fighting back."

Sikeston bounced right back at 35 minutes when Tanner Fritz scored on an assist from Brad Deere.

Lance Rhodes then scored the go-ahead goal at 38 minutes off an assist from J.R. Bizzell.

Neither team scored in the second half.

"We outshot them and pretty much controlled the midfield," said Long. "We had a lot of chances to score, but just couldn't put them in the net. It probably should've been a little more lopsided than it was."

Sikeston keeper Jason Deere had eight saves in the game, and the Bulldogs outshot Farmington 15-8.

Sikeston (2-7-1) will travel to Jackson today for a 4 p.m. match.

In Monday's junior varsity game, Sikeston tied Farmington 1-1.

Joel Kinder scored Sikeston's goal on an assist from Kyle Howard. Keeper Cody Cooper had nine saves.