Both of Grove soccer’s wins over NOAH on Tuesday night at Ridgerunner Stadium followed the same pattern.
In both games the Ridgerunners scored multiple goals in the first half and posted shutouts defensively to win their home openers.
Kaylee Dozier got Grove (2-0) on the board less than six minutes into the game, getting a bouncing shot past the NOAH goal keeper for a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Red dominated play for much of the first half but didn’t have anything to show for it until Wooten scored twice in the final 11 minutes. Wooten’s second goal came after a long run down the left side followed by a strike to the back right corner of the net for a 3-0 lead.
Paige Stanphill would add Grove’s final tally with a goal off a penalty kick with two minutes left in the game.
“We played real strong,” Grove head coach Jeff Dozier said. “Our past three or four game we’ve started to pass the ball a lot better. They [NOAH] are a pretty good team; they just didn’t play the way they’re capable of.”
The Ridgerunners then followed a similar pattern in picking up their first win of the season after losing 1-0 at Miami on Friday.
After getting several scoring chances early, Grove got on the board with a shot by Seth Ottino from about 20 yards out 14 minutes into the match. Ottino would later hit the crossbar with another shot in the first half.
But the Ridgerunners would get a second goal with just 15 seconds left until halftime. Following a free kick, Tanner Ligon gathered the rebound and sent a low cross in the direction of the Jaguars’ goal. The ball skipped off the goalie’s hands to Deacon Kraft, who put it away for a 2-0 lead.
“We did a real good job with our feet,” Grove head coach Jacob Hardesty said. “But then we got caught up too much on small plays. I wanted to see more long balls and diagonals to the corners. When we started hitting long balls we stopped playing simple, so we need to get a better mix.”
NOAH only managed three shots on goal, one of which was a free kick from 30 yards away that Grove goalie Tyler Troppman punched over to preserve the shut out with 21 minutes left in the game.
“We came out ready to play today,” Hardesty said. “After losing to Miami, one of your rivals, then coming out here and getting two goals, we needed that to get ready for Thursday.”
With the majority of his starters freshmen and sophomores, Hardesty, who picked up his first career coaching win Tuesday, felt his team’s inexperience was the difference in their loss at Miami. The Ridgerunners will get a second chance at the Wardogs on Thursday in the Mustang Showcase at Oologah.
“They were amped up for their first varsity starts. I think the jitters were there and they weren’t focused. We changed some pregame stuff to really get us focused.”
