Playing without injured sophomore forward Andrew Flippin, Republic (5-1) remained in solid hands on Tuesday night as the Tigers netted four goals in the first half of play against arch-rival Willard (3-3-2) on the way to a comfortable 5-0 shutout win.
All four of Republic's scores came off the foot of a different player in the span of just under 13 minutes in the opening period as Austin Beck, Julio Quezada, Armando Hurtado and Dylan Brown each found the back of the net before the match's 27th minute had passed.
“It was a good team win tonight, I'm really proud of the boys,” Hauck said following the victory. “It was nice for everybody else to kind of step up and do their part. To see four different players score is always nice as well.”
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The honor of opening up the scoring for Republic went to Beck, who collected an on-the-mark cross from Brown and rifled a shot past Willard keeper Turner Sevon at the 26:14 mark.
“I was just trying to get up to support the team and the attack,” Beck said about his strike. “Dylan [Brown] laid a perfect ball at the top of the box and I just took the shot.”
Despite Brown and Quezada being tabbed as the traditional scoring weapons on the roster, the Tigers more than welcomed the modified dynamic of having a sophomore midfielder take the role as the offensive catalyst on Tuesday.
“It feels great, but the team played great overall,” a humble Beck said. “I don't take any of the credit for what the team did. It's a team sport and I just think we played great tonight.”
A long-range goal by Quezada stretched the lead to 2-0 six minutes later – further solidifying an unfortunate, frustrating theme on the night for visiting Willard.
“[Republic's] speed and their aggressiveness really hurt us,” Willard head coach Tim Magee said. “We had about a 15 to 20 minute time period in the first half where we couldn't do anything right and they were able to capitalize on every mistake we made.”
After Republic posted two more goals in the first half, Quezada added his second netter of the match with 10:54 to play in regulation to extend the advantage to 5-0 – leaving plenty of breathing room for a defense that didn't budge.
Led by terrific performances from goalkeepers Cody Marcotte and Dalton Ghan, who split time at goal, the Tigers notched their second shutout in three games.
“Both of those keepers have been working really hard this year,” said Hauck. “It's good to see that they like to share time and they're there supporting each other. That's just really nice to have.”
Republic travels to Neosho on Thursday, while Willard hits the road on Thursday to play Laquey. Both teams will also be competing in the Parkview Tournament in Springfield this weekend.
