Knightettes use strong second half for victory over Lady Cats

FREDERICKTOWN – The Farmington Knightettes and the Fredericktown Lady Cats soccer squads had to endure wet and cold conditions for a match on Wednesday. Fredericktown played even with Farmington in the first half, but the Knightettes with a very solid second half took a 5-3 win over the Lady Cats.

The Knightettes constantly had possession down in Fredericktown’s end in the second half. Farmington kept the pressure coming as they made 26 shots on the goal. The Lady Cats had only 10.

Fredericktown made the first goal of the game at the seven-minute mark. A corner kick allowed Tricia Ward to make a good attack on the goal for the score. However, Farmington retaliated at the 34-minute mark as Katie Mell scored her first of three goals of the game. The two teams were stayed tied at 1-1 until the half.

Early in the second half, Mell had a chance at a second goal, but was tripped from behind. Mell drilled the penalty shot to the right side of the net to give Farmington the lead at the 52:06 mark in the game.

The Knightettes’ lead didn’t last long as Fredericktown’s Johnna Tinnin was left unguarded on Farmington’s end. Tinnin successfully fired a shot to the left side of the goal for a 2-2 game at the 55-minute mark. Two minutes later, Mell knocked in her third goal of the game for Farmington to take the lead again.

Farmington’s Cassie Tiefenauer nailed a kick into the left side of the goal to double the Knightettes’ lead, but Tinnin answered with a perfectly-placed kick that landed in the upper-left corner of the net at the 62-minute mark of the game.

Farmington’s Emily Mell drilled a shot which rebounded off of the crossbar, but Meghan Halbrook was at the right place at the right time to boot the rebound into the goal for the final score of the game.

Julie Schnurbusch made seven saves for the Knightettes. Lindsay Kollar had 12 saves for Fredericktown.

“Offensively we were getting a lot of shots in the first half,” stated Farmington’s coach Rusty Sancegraw. “We just couldn’t seem to find the net.”

“We definitely played a very strong first half,” Fredericktown’s coach Leo Sikes commented. “In the second half I think we broke down a little bit on our defense. I thought we played a really good game against a very good team.”

Fredericktown will travel to St. Vincent on Tuesday, and the Knightettes will travel to St. Vincent to play on Wednesday.