Jackson soccer finds chink in Mules' armor, scoring big late for district win

It looked like Poplar Bluff had Jackson all figured out in the first half on defense. Exiting the intermission, though, Jackson began to pick up steam and put four past the Mules to secure its spot in the second round o districts with a 4-0 win at home.

Nevaeh Larkins of Poplar Bluff shined in goal, intercepting nearly every cross or shot attempted by the Indians in the first half and well into the second half. Her work in net, along with the Poplar Bluff back line, single-handedly helped the Mules to hang around with a vicious offensive attack from Jackson.

“I saw a goalkeeper from Poplar Bluff that was as good as it gets this season,” Indians coach Justin McMullen said. “She was on top of her game today and turned us away several times in the first half. You know, you can get frustrated if you're putting pressure on the goalkeeper and you don't have the result that you normally would but, you know, I thought we did a really good job of staying calm and composed and capitalizing on our chances in the second half.”

After a flurry of Jackson chances all got turned away by Larkins’ efforts, the Indians finally struck halfway through the second half when Larkins coughed up a rebound on a shot low. Freshman Josey Sauerbrunn picked up the loose ball and lifted it past Larkins to finally chalk up a goal for the Indians, seemingly opening the flood walls and Jackson began to add on.

Just a few minutes later, senior Justi Nelson struck from outside the box on a free-kick opportunity, lifted to the opposite post and over the hands of Larkins to extend the lead to 2-0.

Down the line, sophomore Rilee Monighan came into a 1-on-1 situation with Larkins and lifted a shot to the opposite post and over the keeper’s outstretched hands to up the lead to three.

Finally, with just two minutes left in the ballgame, sophomore Maya Domian picked up a loose ball high in the box and shot through traffic, finding a lane and putting it inside the far post and past Larkins, once again, the score the Indians’ final goal of the afternoon.

The offensive breakout from Jackson put the dagger in a strong season for Poplar Bluff, finishing as the No. 8 seed in district play despite a final record of 12-8. Head coach Rusty Crafton fought to keep the Mules with the Indians, holding pace for three-quarters of the game but falling short.

“Give credit to Jackson, they’re a good team,” Crafton said. “You’ve got to keep standing up to them by playing good defense on them, and can't have any slack in your defense. I think a couple of calls were iffy, I thought. They could have went either way, and it happens in sports and the trickle effect too. Other than that, I mean, I thought we played the game plan and just got an unfortunate ending result.”

Jackson’s win pushes the Indians to the Round of 32 once again, with the Seckman upset over Fox creating a rematch of the Indians’ 3-2 win in penalty kicks on May 3. With a win on Tuesday, Jackson could move into a district final against either Oakville or Notre Dame on Thursday.

“They present some different matchup issues for us, but I think we'll try to get that figured out here between today and Tuesday,” McMullen said. “The team effort was phenomenal today, we were very engaged and focused, and I really like what we did, especially the last 20 minutes of the game in particular.”