By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Bailey Snyder loves a good corner kick.
Or any corner kick, for that matter.
“Corners are definitely my favorite part of the game,” Snyder said. “It’s a whole game-changer. Corners make or break a game, in general, for all teams.”
When Nixa takes a corner kick, the senior defender gets to move up and become a scoring threat – like in Thursday night’s rivalry game against Ozark.
Synder recorded her second career brace (plus an assist) with a pair of goals from corner kicks as Nixa routed Ozark 5-0 to secure a conference championship, Christian County Cup and district 1-seed.
“It’s a great way to kind of put that bow on the regular season,” said Nixa coach Evan Palmer. “It’s a testament to our girls and how hard they’ve worked.
“It seems like the bigger the game, the better they play.”
Snyder, a Drury signee, got a leg on Sam McClain’s corner feed in the 15th minute for the first goal of the match, then added a header in the 33rd minute from a Brooke Teter ball.
“To finally put one away… we work on set pieces all the time. They haven’t quite gone our way this year, but Sam and Brooke both put a great ball in,” Snyder said. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and put it away for our team to get us going. I was excited.”
Nixa (16-2 overall, 6-0 COC East) broke the game open with four goals in a 10-minute span to close the first half.
In the waning seconds, Shaelee Franck blasted a left-footed laser from about 18 yards out on the right side to cap the onslaught against an undermanned Ozark team.
The Lady Eagles, who went 22-2 last season and won a district championship, have once again run the table versus local competition.
Nixa owns a 53-1 goal differential against Central Ozark Conference opponents. The Lady Eagles have also posted 11 shutouts overall.
“We have a bunch of girls who are excellent defenders,” Palmer said. “They’ve done a great job of staying connected and just making sure we get in front of (attackers) and get blocks and things like that. There are so many shots that don’t get (to goal) because our defenders are blocking everything.”
Snyder was inches away from netting her first career hat trick.
She placed a deep shot at the Ozark goal late in the second half that seemingly went in, but Ozark goalkeeper Marissa Campbell made a last-second save in traffic before the ball crossed the goal-line.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“I thought it went in,” Snyder said. “I didn’t really see what was going on, but I had my hands up. I was celebrating. I thought it went in, but I guess not.”
About the only thing that didn’t go Nixa’s way on Thursday night was a rash of offside calls in the opening 20 minutes of the match.
“A lot of times, it makes the person running through look bad. And other times, we’re not watching our line, either,” Palmer said. “But then we take too many touches. We just need to work on getting the ball with one touch and sending it through. We have girls who can get the goal. As the half went on, we started to get the timing down.”
Ozark entered Thursday’s match with several key names on the injury list. The Lady Tigers rested four starters, all of whom should return in time for districts according to head coach Zack Owens.
“Before the game, we talked about, ‘What are the inexcusables that we can’t let happen in a rivalry match, especially with us as hurt as we are?” Owens said. “All five of (Nixa’s goals) were just the inexcusables we talked about pre-match and in training yesterday. It was unfortunate that we didn’t do what we needed to do in those moments.
“We talked about it at halftime and made some adjustments. That second, 40-minute match was zero-zero. And (Nixa) had their starters in there most of the time. But we can’t let those inexcusables happen.”
The Lady Tigers (14-8 overall, 3-2 COC East) have lost three in a row to Nixa.
Senior Chloe Kondracki leads Ozark with 26 goals on the season. Sophomore Anna Essick, one of the injured starters who didn’t play in Thursday’s match, is next with nine goals.
Five of Ozark’s eight losses this season have been by one goal, including overtime losses to Rock Bridge and Springfield Catholic.
“We’ve been right there many, many times,” Owens said. “But we’ve struggled a bit in a couple of key areas on the field, personnel-wise. I think we’re going to have to start making a few adjustments in order to close out those games we’re losing by one goal. We can’t let that continue to happen. And we’re at the point of the season where those changes are necessary.”
Ozark wraps up the regular season with road trips to Sedalia Smith-Cotton (May 9) and Waynesville (May 13).
Nixa’s regular season finale is May 14 at home versus Neosho.
The Lady Eagles have secured the top seed for the upcoming Class 4 District 5 tournament, which runs May 20-27 at Kickapoo High School. The district bracket will be released Friday morning, May 9.
“We knew where we wanted to be again this year,” Snyder said. “We have high standards. Just to be able to get this win and lock in these (accomplishments) is important to us. We’re looking to continue our run in districts and keep it going strong.”
Nixa 5, Ozark 0
Nixa 5 0 — 5
Ozark 0 0 — 0
First half
Nixa (15’) – Bailey Snyder (Sam McClain assist)
Nixa (30’) – Lilly Kirk (Snyder assist)
Nixa (32’) – London Kirk (PK)
Nixa (33’) – Synder (Brooke Teter assist)
Nixa (40’) – Shaelee Franck
