Cape Central soccer survives Sikeston late

A pair of first half goals held up as the Cape Central Tigers downed the Sikeston Bulldogs 2-1 on Tuesday at Cape Central High School.

Just 11 minutes into the contest, Kamryn West kicked off the scoring to make it 1-0 Tigers.

“It was great composure by Kamryn, especially as a freshman,” Tigers coach Jared Dobbs said. “It was great to see. He was very patient and finished with a nice shot off his left foot.”

West’s goal came as a result of continuous pressure on the Bulldogs’ back line.

“Obviously we’re going to apply pressure to any team we play,” Dobbs said. “But, I think once we got that goal we got a little complacent.”

With just mere seconds left in the first half, Josiah Seabaugh made a terrific pass to Max Cairns who converted, putting the Tigers up 2-0 at halftime.

“(Josiah) is a very versatile player,” Dobbs said. “It was a great build up play, a great pass to Max and then a great finish from Max.”

Near the midway point of the second half, Sikeston’s Tristan Wiggins was awarded a free kick where he delivered a beautiful strike to cut the lead to 2-1.

Aside from the Wiggins strike on the free kick, the Tigers defense neutralized all of the Sikeston attacks.

“I think we did fine defensively,” Dobbs said. “I think I’m more concerned with our approach from the middle third to the final third. We need to be more clinical with our passes and more clinical with our finishes.”

Cape Central once again found itself playing in a tight game down the stretch, something Dobbs hopes will benefit the Tigers when the postseason rolls around.

“We want to use these games to focus on the areas we can get better at,” Dobbs said.”

Tuesday’s win over Sikeston was Cape Central’s first game since Sept. 5.

Sikeston (2-5) will return to action at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13, when the Bulldogs host Windsor.

Cape Central (2-2-1) will have a day off before returning to the field at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, when the Tigers travel to take on the Poplar Bluff Mules.

“We’ll try to watch film tomorrow and we’ll train tomorrow,” Dobbs said. “We’ll try to tune a few things going into Poplar Bluff on Thursday.”