A season ago, Ozark routinely punished teams on corner kicks by exploiting its size and strength advantages.
Those plays haven’t been quite as common this year, but on Tuesday night against Branson, Ozark recaptured some of its deadly set-piece capabilities.
The Tigers scored three times via corner kicks, and tacked on three more goals for extra insurance, in a 6-0 drubbing of a fatigued Branson team. The outcome marked Ozark’s fifth straight shutout of Branson dating back to the 2013 season.
Senior Mikayla Putt, an SBU signee, and sophomore Ashley McCulloch had two goals apiece as Ozark improved to 10-2 overall.
“This is probably the first game (this season) that we’ve taken those (corner kick) opportunities and put them into the back of the net,” said senior defender Baily Summers, who serviced two of Ozark’s corner kicks that led to goals. “I think that’s a really good thing for us to be doing because that’s an easy scoring opportunity. The ball’s set there, it’s a play that we do.”
Ozark broke through in the 22nd minute after Summers’ corner kick was deflected, then knocked through by sophomore Ashley McCulloch.
Branson had limited Ozark’s scoring opportunities up to that point thanks to an all-out defense formation. Patience was a priority for Ozark in the first half.
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“That’s all we talked about at halftime: Just be patient. Be patient,’” said Ozark coach Tom Davidson. “I’m looking out there and there’s 10 (defenders) behind the ball. I just said, ‘Keep finding spaces, keep dropping the ball back. Keep coming out wide, maybe we can get (Branson) to come out and spread the defense a little bit.’ We were and that’s when the corner kicks become important because those are scoring opportunities, and they were tonight.
“I was proud of the girls for being patient. We moved the ball great tonight. When there’s just that much space and 10 people in it, it’s hard.”
Seven minutes after the initial goal, Ozark went up 2-0 as Putt got the header on a corner kick from Shannon Murphy.
“When teams score on you on a set piece like that, it hurts,” said Branson coach Brandon Scott. “Ozark is big, tall, physical and fast. We’d like to have those (three) corner kicks back.”
Murphy got in on the fun herself in the 33rd minute when she fired a shot from about 20 yards out that hit the inside of the left post, then bounced toward the middle and over the line.
Ozark put the game out of reach early in the second half as Putt scored after a Summers corner kick to make it 4-0.
“Coach always wants me to put (the ball) between the 6-yard box and about the 10 yard-line,” Summers said. “It keeps (the ball) away from the keeper and then all my runners are going in that area. I don’t want to kick it straight to the keeper and give her an easy chance to get ahold of. I have a lot of runners in that area, so one of them should be able to get to it.”
Branson dropped to 8-4 overall with the loss. The Pirates are amid a brutal stretch – four games in six days – that concludes this Thursday with a trip to Carl Junction.
Injuries – two ankle injuries and a concussion, according to Scott – are starting to accumulate for Branson. The Pirates are looking to build upon a 13-10-1 campaign from a year ago, which set the single-season wins record for the eight-year-old program.
“We’re exhausted right now,” Scott said. “To get a team like Ozark on the tail end of that is tough. My hat’s off to them, there’s a reason they’re getting votes for Top 10 in Class 4 in the state.
“We’re winning tournaments now, starting to become competitive and hopefully getting recognition in the area with the things we’re doing as a young program.”
Pirates goalkeeper Lauren Garrison finished with 14 saves.
Ozark claimed the championship of its own tournament last weekend, defeating Osage, Pattonville and defending Arkansas 7A state champion Bentonville. The showing helped ease some of the disappointment from an 0-2 showing the prior weekend at the Parkway College Showcase event in St. Louis, when the Tigers lost 3-0 to Ursuline Academy and 2-0 to Troy-Buchanan.
“I think we got a little frustrated with the results we had at Parkway,” Summers said. “We were really determined to get something done last weekend. We ended doing that. I think that’s when it clicked. You can tell, we want to get stuff done this season. We have some unfinished business to do.”
Ozark hosts Republic this Thursday. Branson travels to Carl Junction the same night.
Ozark 6, Branson 0
Branson 0 0 — 0
Ozark 3 3 — 6
First half
Ozark – Ashley McCulloch (Baily Summers assist)
Ozark – Mikayla Putt (Shannon Murphy assist)
Ozark – Murphy
Second half
Ozark – Putt (Summers assist)
Ozark – Keeley Combs
Ozark – McCulloch
