Seckman beats Lady Mules

It’s been a rough start to the season for the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules soccer team as they continue to battle through early injuries.

With little to no experience for the Lady Mules varsity squad, heading into Tuesday’s matchup against Seckman was tough as they fell short 3-0 against the Lady Jaguars.

“Coming into this game with about four or five starters out with injuries, I thought we played pretty good,” Poplar Bluff coach Rusty Crafton said afterwards. “It was kind of a slow game, but we were trying to take things out that they had and counter off that, but it just didn’t go our way tonight. I think if we had all of our starters, it might have been a different game.”

The intensity for most of the first half was at its highest as both teams battled to gain field possession. After a few back-and-forth trips down the field, Seckman struck first with a goal from sophomore Erica Evans off an assist from Elizabeth Kundert.

The Lady Jaguars led 1-0 heading into halftime.

Heading into the second half, it was noticeable that fatigue had taken its toll on the Lady Mules early as they struggled to keep Seckman out of their field position. The Lady Jaguars managed to keep Poplar Bluff on the defensive, fighting to keep them from the goal line.

Despite the hard effort, the Lady Jaguars scored another goal only minutes into the second half with a striking kick from Ellie Fiala to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

Senior Nevaeh Larkins, the goalkeeper and captain for the Lady Mules, had a busy night fighting off goal shots from Seckman and had a solid run going early in the game. Larkins finished with 11 saves for the Lady Mules for the second straight game.

“For the past three years, we’ve lost to Seckman 3-0 every single time since I’ve been here, but we played them a lot better each time we matched up,” Larkins said. “We weren’t connecting passes that great, but due to people being out, we haven’t been able to really practice, so that’s going to be expected.

Overall, we kept our morale high throughout the game and didn’t give up. We were all tired, but we played really well tonight.”

Crafton said keeping possession of the ball was the biggest obstacle for the Lady Mules and believed the turnovers were the leading factor that hurt their offense.

“You can’t turn the ball over against a team like this,” he said. “Seckman is a good possession passing team, so I think we got to get better just holding the ball individually to beat teams like this.”

Crafton said there’s no reason to hit the panic button despite the loss, and he’s ready to get his starters back as they progress through the season.

“I think we are fine. The main thing is we need to get healthy. At the moment, we are playing with three returning starters and freshmen that don’t have much experience. Regardless, I think it’s good to see the younger girls step up, and that will help us move forward once we get everyone back,” Crafton added.