Tiger beat goes on

The Smith-Cotton Lady Tigers have guaranteed themselves chance at becoming district champions.

S-C defeated Rock Bridge 2-0 on Wednesday at Susie Ditzfeld Memorial Field. With the win over the Bruins, the Lady Tigers will now face Jefferson City for the Class 2, District 10, championship.

S-C played under clear skies Wednesday, a relief after severe lightning postponed the game on Tuesday. Play resumed with the game tied at 0-0 with 26:09 remaining in the first half.

The Lady Tigers did not seem to be troubled with the shortened first half, scoring a goal in the first 10 minutes. Kristi Miller broke away from the pack and went head-to-head with the Rock Bridge goalkeeper. Miller won the matchup and sent the ball into the upper right side of the net for the score.

Rock Bridge attempted to answer shortly after Miller’s goal with a hard shot from Lauren Kelly. Kelly’s shot from 18 yards out was on line but sailed above the crossbar.

Both teams turned up the offense as well as the intensity in the second half. Fouls were whistled frequently on both teams, and a yellow card was given to the S-C sideline.

“There were some questionable calls, but in a tough game like that where both teams are physical, you are never going to agree with all of them,” head coach Shawn Cairer said.

An S-C foul inside the goalkeeper’s box nine minutes into the half gave the Bruins their best scoring opportunity of the game. However, the kick struck the goalpost and was cleared by S-C’s goalkeeper Cristian Sharp.

The Lady Tigers scored again midway through the half. Tiffany Wehmeyer slipped a pass through multiple Bruin defenders to Ceci Perez. Perez shot the ball above the goalkeeper and into the net.

The Bruins made Sharp earn her shutout with two more shots late in the game. A shot from Rock Bridge’s Kelsey Eckenrode with 16 minutes remaining and a header off a corner kick four minutes later were each saved by the goalkeeper.

“I think Cristian made a couple of big saves late to kind of keep us in there and keep our momentum going in the same way,” Cairer said.

The Lady Tigers attempted to score a third goal with three minutes remaining in the game. Jessica Greer moved the ball up the field to Wehmeyer.

Wehmeyer played the ball to Claire Waldo, who shot toward the left side of the net. A diving save by the Rock Bridge goalkeeper kept the ball out of the net and ended the action of the game.

S-C will attempt to claim the district Championship today against Jefferson City. The championship game will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Susie Ditzfeld Memorial Field.