Lady Mules pitch senior night shutout against Sikeston

Senior night for the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules soccer team ended in triumph, thanks in large part to a big night by senior Olivia Carda.

Carda’s four goals helped the Lady Mules continue their hot streak Monday as they rolled to a 7-0 win over the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs, their fourth consecutive win. With the win, the Lady Mules improve to 9-6 on the season.

“This win feels good, especially for me because I’ve been in a slump with connecting on many goals,” Carda said. “In the first half, I was getting frustrated because I felt like I had so many shots and they just were not going through, but in the second, I woke up because it’s one of my last few games here of playing my favorite sport ever, so I got to make it count.”

The Lady Mules came out in attack mode and capitalized with a deflection goal from senior Sydney Kramer, who ripped one through the nets within the first 10 minutes for a 1-0 lead. The Lady Mules set up for multiple attempts to score a goal, but Sikeston’s goalkeeper was prepared at every turn.

Though the Lady Mules went silent from striking any more goals in the first half, the tone was already set for a big run to come as they switched their game into another gear for the second.

Off the assist from sophomore Samantha Ruiz, Carda snagged her first goal of the night with a slashing sidekick past Sikeston’s goalkeeper for a 2-0 lead roughly five minutes into the second half. After the first goal, both connected with more magic as Ruiz set up Carda for two more goals throughout the game.

The Lady Mules continued to dominate for the rest of the game. Sophomore Madyson Kordick capitalized with the final goal off the assists from Cori Duncan.

Earlier this season, Carda said seeing her team become closer and play as a unit was her biggest goal — and she’s recently seen strides in the right direction for the Lady Mules.

“Our passing has really improved, and that was one of the things that I wanted to see us work on for us to get better as a team,” Carda said.

“I’m very proud of everybody. I’m happy with the other girls’ assists and the confidence to move the ball around.”

Ireland Gowen, Kramer and Kordick each had one goal, while Ruiz dished out three assists.

Stepping into senior night, Poplar Bluff coach Rusty Crafton said the Lady Mules’ ultimate goal was to start and finish strong, especially the seniors.

“We wanted to come out and dominate, which we accomplished,” Crafton said about the Lady Mules’ performance. “I thought Sikeston was congesting things in the middle for us, but we were still passing well. We made some halftime adjustments and sent more players up top to give us a little bit more offensive threat, and it worked.”

Craton believes their passing has helped them go on their recent run and credits getting more of his players back from injury.

“One of our biggest returns for us was Cori Duncan. She helps distribute the ball through the middle, and that’s big time for us. We got one more player out and if we can get all our players, we can compete in districts.”

In junior varsity action, Poplar Bluff won 3-0.