By Tristan James (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Rogersville slid by Clinton 2-0 in the Class 2 District 5 championship on Wednesday at home. It is the second straight district title for Rogersville girls soccer, which is the first time in program history they have gone back-to-back.
“It was the first time we’ve done it, so it means a lot. These girls have played great all year. We had a missing year in 2020, so in my mind this is like another thing to show that this is a quality group of girls,” said Rogersville head coach Brett Wubbena
Defense was key for Rogersville holding Clinton off the scoreboard for a shutout.
“We’ve been working a lot on defense. This is a good team that we played. They could move the ball, they pressured, they were physical, and so we had to match that. I think we did,” Wubbena said.
Rogersville came into the game with confidence and never backed down. Through the first half of the game there was nothing but stellar defense being played by both teams. The Clinton Cardinals showed up to play holding the Wildcats to a scoreless in the first half. Luckily for the Wildcats, their goalkeeper Chayla Perry decided to do the same. Even though the first half consisted of no scoring and just back and forth defensive battles, the Wildcats stayed ahead as much as they could. Constantly putting pressure on the Cardinal defense and making them work to clear the ball.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
The second half of this defensive battle proved to favor the Wildcats. With just under 28 minutes remaining in the game, senior standout Nikki Wood scored the first goal of the game for the Wildcats putting them up 1-0. Not too long after that, junior Lydia Coryell sent the ball to the back of the net with 10 minutes and 45 seconds remaining in the game.
“Everybody did really good getting it down. I just kind of saw it in the middle so I took a gander and shot it,” said Coryell.
With the Wildcats going up 2-0 with under 11 minutes remaining in the game, they could taste the district title. As the clock began to run down to double zeroes, the crowd began to roar as the Logan-Rogersville Lady Wildcats won their second straight district title for the first time ever. This was also their fourth title in seven years.
Rogersville will take on the 15-6 Pleasant Hill Chicks in sectionals on May 27.
