By Dana Harding
Ozark — It’s deja vu all over again.
Alyson Reinold’s deep sand-wedge ball in the 62nd minute proved to be the game-winner for Kickapoo, as the Lady Chiefs held on for a 2-1 victory over Ozark in a windy, Class 5 District 10 championship.
SEE PICTURES FROM WEDNESDAY’S GAME
The two area heavyweights last met in late April during the regular season, a 1-0 Kickapoo victory thanks to a late-game goal.
In the 62nd minute.
Reinold’s game-winning shot was gathered just outside the 18-yard box and lobbed up and over Ozark’s Ally Barb.
Kickapoo head coach Phil Hodge described the wild sequence, which started as a play from midfielder Jessica Weedin.
“Jessica got the ball out on the wing there,” Hodge said. “We were asking her to try and get the thing to the end-line; she had a lot of space in our eyes. She saw something else and makes a pass, a little combination play. Ozark wins a ball and plays it out. A.R. just one-times a second ball and just hits a phenomenal shot. That’s a senior making a play, and I couldn’t be happier for her.”
Kickapoo’s late goal capped the trio of scores from both teams, all occurring within a 20-minute sequence in the second half.
While Kickapoo was able to capitalize on its second-half opportunities, the Lady Chiefs barely saw the other side of the pitch in the first.
Just as it was in April, scoring opportunities were few and far between for both teams. Still, Ozark established itself early on as the aggressor and spent the vast majority of the first half on Kickapoo’s end of the pitch.
Ozark head coach Tom Davidson wasn’t surprised by Kickapoo’s cautious, defense-minded approach.
“[Kickapoo] played like that all year,” Davidson said. “They just were comfortable playing defense, and it worked. There were so many teams that played that way against us. They’d just play one player up and say, ‘OK … hopefully, you guys don’t score,’ and we were still scoring three or four times on them. [Kickapoo] had better athletes in the back than some of the other teams we played. We didn’t find the opportunities that we normally do.”
Those athletes in the back for Kickapoo were keyed by Annalee Arbeitman.
The senior midfielder helped neutralize Ozark’s high-octane trio of Jadyn Easley, Maya Davidson and Mikayla Putt.
“My specific job today while we were going into the wind was to man-mark Jadyn,” Arbeitman said. “She’s got a lot of speed and has a lot of skills, so our plan was to kind of shut her down. We figured if we shut her down, we’d shut down their attacking on that side of the field.”
Ozark had opportunities in the first half, but failed to capitalize. Baily Summers and Maya Davidson each narrowly missed goals in the opening frame.
As the teams headed to halftime, Hodge felt Kickapoo was in a good spot after playing into a 25 mph wind.
“We felt like we won the first half,” Hodge said. “We got a little defensive and maybe didn’t play the feet as much as we usually do, but we battled for 40 minutes and survived, which was our goal.”
In the second half, Kickapoo seemed poised to take advantage of the wind; however, it was Ozark jumping on the scoreboard first.
Easley ran down a ball just outside the right post that was headed out of bounds, and then flipped a crosser to Courtnie Miller in front of the penalty box.
Miller’s goal sailed past Kickapoo’s Ari Acuff and gave Ozark a 1-0 lead.
With momentum on his team’s side, Davidson thought the Lady Tigers would ride out the win.
“At halftime, when it was 0-0, I thought we should have gotten one but what do you do,” Davidson said. “When we got the [second-half] goal, I said to somebody earlier I really felt like if we scored first, we had them.”
Unfortunately for Ozark, Kickapoo netted the equalizer almost immediately thereafter.
Lily Simphaly-Ragsdale’s stunning goal from Skylr Houzenga not only tied the game up once more, it shifted momentum back to the Lady Chiefs.
Davidson had hoped the initial goal would rattle Kickapoo, but the quick equalizer negated any chance for panic.
“When they put one right on top of you like that, there was no panic time for them,” Davidson said. “We wanted to change the way they played, and it just didn’t happen. When they tied it, then all the momentum went back to them.”
With the game knotted up, the stage was set for Reinhold’s heroics and 18 final minutes of furious defense from the Lady Chiefs to turn away any hope for an Ozark equalizer.
Hodge praised his team’s leadership and focus, key factors earned by way of a brutal, regular-season schedule.
“That’s exciting,” Hodge said. “That’s what you want out of your veteran group. These kids are battle-tested and have played a lot of varsity minutes. For them to respond like that … hat’s off to them. We just kept our composure and didn’t panic.”
Next up for Kickapoo (20-4-2) is a May 23 sectional matchup against either Rock Bridge or Jefferson City.
Varsity Final: Kickapoo – 2, Ozark – 1
Second-half scoring
Ozark45:25Courtnie Miller (Jadyn Easley assist )1-0
Kickapoo47:24Lily Simphaly-Ragsdale (Skylr Houzenga assist )1-1
Kickapoo61:07Alyson Reinold (unassisted)2-1
