Cape Central blanks Sikeston for second straight win

With a 3-0 shutout victory over Sikeston, the Cape Central girls’ soccer team has gone from starting the season 0-5 to winning back-to-back matches.

“I think we’ve been able to kind of gel a little bit better than we have in the beginning of the season,” said Tigers coach Duncan McKinley. “Our passing has been better. We’ve been able to connect passes a little bit more than we were in the beginning of the season and are finishing. I think, more importantly, it’s been more clinical. I would have liked to have gotten a couple more tonight, and that’s something that we’re kind of working on, but I think deeper in the season we’ll be able to score more.”

Junior midfielder Celeste Gutierrez scored two goals while sophomore midfielder Tay Jennings scored the other goal for the Tigers.

“I believe both (from Gutierrez) were a bit longer shots from outside the 18,” McKinley said. “Both were placed well and glad they went in. The third one, we worked the ball wide, got a cross in from Gracyn Morris, found the player in the middle, and just kind of luckily, it hit the post and went in.”

McKinley said Gutierrez has been a focal point of the offense during their winning streak.

“That’s a part of her game that I think she’s gotten a lot better at,” he said. “It’s improved a lot this year, just from the beginning of the season. She’s someone that we want to play higher up the field, even though she plays midfield, and I think the longer the season goes I think that’s part of a part of her game that she’s going to start to develop.”

The Tigers’ defense has held firm during these two wins. Part of that is keeping the number of shots toward senior goalie Demi Drum to a minimum.

“We’ve been fortunate in the last few games to not have to face that many shots,” McKinley said. “Our defenses have kept shape in those past few games, and I think that’s prevented some of those scoring opportunities. But Demi has done a fantastic job of organizing the back.”

Cape Central hosts Farmington on Wednesday, April 19, at 5 p.m. The Tigers’ lone playoff win last season came against the Knights, which means McKinley is preparing for a team seeking revenge.

“They’re always a very good team, women and men,” McKinley said. “I think with us playing them last year’s postseason and knocking them out, I think they’re probably going to have a bone to pick. They always play hard and we always look forward to those games. For the new girls, I think that may be maybe tough to kind of explain to them we’re playing a team that we knocked out of the postseason. They’re probably going to come in and ready, but I think that’s going to be a statement game for us and our girls to move forward this season.”