Each week, O-Zone will release local girls’ soccer power rankings, based on dominance by Class. These are not meant to be overall head-to-head rankings, but rather a measure of which teams are the best in their respective Classes at the moment.
Recent success and strength of schedule are factored into the rankings.
APRIL 6 POWER RANKINGS
APRIL 13 POWER RANKINGS
APRIL 20 POWER RANKINGS
Current record, Class and previous ranking are listed in parenthesis.
1. Rolla (14-2-1, C3, PR: 1) – The Bulldogs continue to field the most stifling defense in the Ozarks. Rolla’s now blanked opponents in 12 of 17 games this season, including four shutouts in the past week. The Bulldogs captured the West Plains Tournament championship over the weekend, beating a pair of Arkansas schools (Harrison, Siloam Springs) and Class 2 Moberly. Siloam Springs won the 6A Arkansas State Championship last year, and Harrison lost to Ozark (3-0) and Kickapoo (4-1), so those two games were good competition for the Bulldogs. Against Siloam Springs, junior Allie Pernicka scored the game-winner with eight minutes remaining. Rolla, which beat Camdenton 4-0 at home on April 21, moved up to No. 7 in latest Class 3 state rankings. The Bulldogs face Lebanon today and travel to Joplin on Thursday, April 28. A big showdown looms Monday, May 2 with a trip to Class 4 No. 8-ranked Jefferson City.
2. Kickapoo (15-3-2, C4, PR: 4) – Kickapoo seems to have a flair for the dramatic. Four days after scoring a late second-half goal to beat Ozark 2-1, Kickapoo got a double-OT goal from Alyson Reinold to beat Catholic 1-0 at home. The Chiefs now own one-goal victories over Catholic, Nixa, and Ozark this season, as well as a one-goal loss to Rolla. The Chiefs aren’t overwhelmingly dominant in any one aspect, but they have the most balanced team among the Ozark-Nixa-Kickapoo trio. They defend better than Ozark and have a more well-rounded offense than Nixa. That’s earned them the coveted No. 1 seed for the Class 4 District 10 tournament, but as those one-goal wins over Nixa and Ozark show, the district is anyone’s to win among those three. Kickapoo hosts Parkview tomorrow then Class 3 MICDS on Friday.
3. Catholic (12-5-1, C2, PR: 3) – The Irish began a challenging two-week stretch with a respectable showing on Monday, playing Kickapoo to a double-overtime loss on the road. With a winnable game Saturday afternoon against Class 3 MICDS, the Irish will try to rebound before facing Nixa (May 2), Ozark (May 5) and Carl Junction (May 9) in the next 12 days.
4. Ozark (14-2, C4, PR: 2) – The whole giving-up-goals-early-in-halves thing is a bit troubling, but Ozark finished the match strong in Tuesday’s rivalry game against Nixa. The Tigers poured in three goals in the final 20 minutes – from Cassie Hinkley, Mikayla Putt and Shannon Murphy – to defeat Nixa 3-1 and take control of the COC-Large standings in pursuit of an undefeated conference championship. Once again, though, Ozark conceded an early goal as Nixa’s Alex Johnson scored in the 8th minute. Unlike the early second-half swoon against Eureka and an early mishap against Kickapoo, Ozark was able to avoid a loss following its quick deficit vs. Nixa. Ozark heads to the Tournament of Champions in Burlington, Iowa this weekend and plays at Carthage on Tuesday, May 3.
5. Nixa (9-5, C4, PR: 5) – The Eagles struck early against Ozark and made their early 1-0 lead hold up for about 50 minutes, before giving up three goals late in the match in a 3-1 loss last night. Evidently, Nixa could have been up 2-0 or 3-0 by halftime. If you want to know how dominant Nixa has been the past five seasons, try this stat on for size: the Eagles’ current 9-5 record marks the most losses Nixa’s had in a single season since 2010. Despite the losses to Ozark and Kickapoo, Nixa won’t be an easy out come districts. The Eagles take on Glendale tonight, travel to Carthage this Friday, and host Catholic on Monday.
6. Bolivar (9-2, C2, PR: 6) – Two goals from Saint Louis University commit Brionna Halverson gave the Liberators a 2-1 road win at Republic last Thursday. While offense gets a lot of attention, Bolivar’s quietly put together a pretty sound defense this season, allowing just five goals over 11 games, two coming in a 2-1 home loss to Springfield Catholic. After participating in the Willard Tournament this weekend, Bolivar plays at Greenwood on May 2 and hosts Carl Junction on May 3.
7. Carl Junction (11-3, C3, PR: 7) – Four goals from Nixa junior Alex Johnson buried the Bulldogs in a 4-2 road loss last Friday. To Carl Junction’s credit, it overcame a pair of one-goal deficits twice in the match, although Nixa regained the lead minutes later. A night earlier, Carl Junction scored a pair of first-half goals in a 2-0 win at Willard. The Bulldogs beat McDonald County 10-0 on Tuesday in its latest action. Senior Callie Degani (17 goals) and junior Kecia Houpt (12 goals) have accounted for 29 of CJ’s 43 goals scored this season. A win over Webb City tomorrow night would lock up the No. 1 seed for the Bulldogs in the Class 3 District 12 tournament.
8. Fair Grove (9-2, C1, PR: 8) – Picking a Class 1 team for these rankings really makes you think. While Class 4 teams like Kickapoo have already played 20 games and faced a broad array of opponents, Fair Grove’s only gotten in 11 games so far and has faced no state-ranked competition. One of Fair Grove’s biggest challengers for the “best local Class 1 team” designation would have to be Dixon, as the Bulldogs own two wins over Laquey (2-0, 7-0), a team that Fair Grove beat in PKs last week. On the other hand, Dixon needed double-OT to beat Marshfield, a team Fair Grove beat 5-0 in late March. To weird things up even more, Crocker could have some say in this debate as the Lions split a pair of regular season meetings with Dixon and have a rubber match ahead against the Bulldogs on May 6. So many possibilities in local Class 1 that it’ll make your head hurt. Fair Grove plays in the Willard Invitational this weekend and hosts Monett on Monday, May 2.
Knocking on the door: Crocker (6-8-1, C1), Dixon (7-2, C1), Camdenton (10-6-1, C3), Glendale (6-8, C3)
