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The Neosho and Carthage soccer rivalry has been one of the best over the years for both fan bases to watch when it comes to boys soccer.
A new chapter of the rivalry was written when the Lady Wildcats soccer team played Carthage for the first time ever. And wouldn’t you know it, it was yet another close game.
The Lady Wildcats got an early goal and made it stand to pull out a 1-0 victory over the first-year Lady Tigers Tuesday night at Lions Field.
“Chris (Rogers, Carthage head soccer coach) and I were talking before the game that it seems no matter what the record is, Neosho and Carthage is always a tough, hard fought game on the boys side and it’s always close and now, the girls do the same thing,” Neosho coach Steve Schnackenberg said.
The two coaches are very familiar with each other as both were their respective school’s boys soccer coaches the past year.
This contest was essentially a battle of Neosho’s offensive attacks and the Carthage defense, which for the most part wasn’t having any of it.
The first half saw a total of only one shot taken by both teams, but it was the one shot that mattered the most when the final whistle was blown.
In the 20th minute, Shelby Murray notched yet another goal when she got a cross pass from Melanie White.
That, essentially, was the entire game.
Neosho (6-3 overall, 2-0 in COC) had eight shots on goal in the second half, including three at point or near point-blank range only to be turned away by Carthage goalie Phylicia Lewis.
Carthage (1-7, 0-2) used a defensive strategy where the team essentially stacked eight or nine players in the box making it hard for the Neosho forwards to get a look at any part of the net.
“With the quality of team that Neosho is, we have been beat 4-0 to 8-0 or 4-1 to 8-1 by other teams so this is a big step,” Carthage coach Chris Rogers said. “It’s not a win, but to play a team like that to 1-0 (is big). We have a little work to do on offense, but we did a lot of little things today — those things that don’t show up on a stat sheet or scoreboard. We have a lot of growth, even from a week ago, we have came a long way.”
The Neosho and Carthage soccer rivalry has been one of the best over the years for both fan bases to watch when it comes to boys soccer.
A new chapter of the rivalry was written when the Lady Wildcats soccer team played Carthage for the first time ever. And wouldn’t you know it, it was yet another close game.
The Lady Wildcats got an early goal and made it stand to pull out a 1-0 victory over the first-year Lady Tigers Tuesday night at Lions Field.
“Chris (Rogers, Carthage head soccer coach) and I were talking before the game that it seems no matter what the record is, Neosho and Carthage is always a tough, hard fought game on the boys side and it’s always close and now, the girls do the same thing,” Neosho coach Steve Schnackenberg said.
The two coaches are very familiar with each other as both were their respective school’s boys soccer coaches the past year.
This contest was essentially a battle of Neosho’s offensive attacks and the Carthage defense, which for the most part wasn’t having any of it.
The first half saw a total of only one shot taken by both teams, but it was the one shot that mattered the most when the final whistle was blown.
In the 20th minute, Shelby Murray notched yet another goal when she got a cross pass from Melanie White.
That, essentially, was the entire game.
Neosho (6-3 overall, 2-0 in COC) had eight shots on goal in the second half, including three at point or near point-blank range only to be turned away by Carthage goalie Phylicia Lewis.
Carthage (1-7, 0-2) used a defensive strategy where the team essentially stacked eight or nine players in the box making it hard for the Neosho forwards to get a look at any part of the net.
“With the quality of team that Neosho is, we have been beat 4-0 to 8-0 or 4-1 to 8-1 by other teams so this is a big step,” Carthage coach Chris Rogers said. “It’s not a win, but to play a team like that to 1-0 (is big). We have a little work to do on offense, but we did a lot of little things today — those things that don’t show up on a stat sheet or scoreboard. We have a lot of growth, even from a week ago, we have came a long way.”
Said Schnackenberg, “Coach Rogers comes prepared and ready to make it a hard-fought game. Tonight was mostly a good building game. We had good ball possession and a lot of repetition in that.
“We got a chance to work on passing in the alleyways and coming in from the backside. That is how we got our goal, we had brought it deep and kicked it across. Tonight we did a good job, we just never finished by scoring more than one goal.”
Carthage, despite its success on defense, went the entire game without a shot on Neosho goalie Ashley Bartkoksi.
The Lady Wildcats are idle until Friday when the 8th Annual Neosho Tournament commences with two games, including the host Lady Wildcats playing at 6:30 p.m. that evening against Springfield Hillcrest.
Look for more information on the tournament in Thursday’s paper.
