Mishap helps Tigers elevate game

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Maybe the time the Central soccer team spent Saturday while being stuck in an elevator at a St. Louis-area mall did wonders for the Tigers' ability to bond.

On Tuesday, Central displayed crisp passes and ballhandling skills that stymied the Sikeston Bulldogs during a 3-0 shutout at the Sikeston Sports Complex.

"One of the things that has bothered us this season is our play at midfield," Central coach Tom Doyle said after his team improved to 3-4-1. "When we lose the midfield play, we don't perform nearly as well.

"When we control the midfield, it means that we can control the flow of the game, move the ball to the wings and get scoring opportunities on the back side."

Added Doyle: "One of the things that we like to do is bring our defenders up and get them involved in our offense. When we do that, our opponents just can't sit back. They have to come up and defend them, too."

For more than 30 minutes Saturday, Central's entire soccer team was trapped inside a glass elevator at Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters, Mo. The Tigers were killing some time between matches of the Francis Howell North Tournament, when they decided to go to the mall.

After fire crews were called to the scene, Central coaches and players were pulled to safety through a door on top of the elevator.

"Tonight, we came to play soccer after having a tough weekend up in St. Louis," Doyle said. "I thought we played well in that tournament, but we just couldn't score goals against the three Howell teams.

"But I told the players tonight that we could use the momentum that we had built up from the weekend."

And the Tigers did exactly what Doyle wanted.

Central held the ball deep in Sikeston territory for nearly 70 percent of the match. If not for Bulldogs goalie Scott Droddy, who stopped Brooks Osburn's penalty shot in the 56th minute and turned away Central scoring attempts with a trio of diving saves, Sikeston would have been defeated by a wider margin.

"They possessed the ball a lot longer than we did," said Sikeston coach Derrick Long, whose team fell to 3-5. "Cape Central was relentless tonight."

Jesse Lawrence put Central ahead 1-0 in the 32nd minute after a chip-shot went from the tip of his foot and over Droddy.

The Tigers increased their lead to 2-0 in the 44th minute, when Tommy McGowan sent a pass from the left wing to Zach Zaruba, who was waiting at the top of the penalty box.

Garrett Duncan helped Central put the match out of reach in the 61st minute, after he split the Sikeston penalty box defense, slowed up and tapped the ball into the lower right corner of the goal.

Central held a 17-3 edge in shots. Droddy made 14 saves.

JV -- Central won 2-1.