Jackson soccer routs Central 10-0

Central's Abby Kiefner, left, and Jackson's Amber Crites, center, and Katelyn Myracle battle for possession of the ball during the first half Tuesday night in Jackson. (Elizabeth Dodd) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Bobbi Jo Schlick saw Jackson teammate Katelyn Myracle wide open in front of the net and kicked a perfect cross about 18 feet in the air to the senior, who scored a header early in the first half Tuesday.

That was just one of the many strong plays Schlick and Myracle made on offense as the two players both posted hat tricks to help Jackson crush Central 10-0 at Jackson High School in a game that ended 20 minutes, 23 seconds early because of the mercy rule.

"I just saw her there and I knew she had the space enough to get it and put it in," Schlick said about her cross to Myracle. "I saw her running in and I knew if I placed it pretty close to the goal, she would be there."

It was clear the game was in the bag for Jackson early. When the Indians (13-3) clanked three consecutive shots off the crossbar while failing to score on an attack just about 13 minutes into the contest, they were able to just laugh a little and shrug it off. At that point. Jackson already had a 3-0 lead.

Jackson's Erin Eakens, right, and Central's Sarah Uptmor keep their eye on the ball during the first half Tuesday night in Jackson. (Elizabeth Dodd) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"It never crossed our minds 10-0 [before the game], but we did want this game pretty bad," Myracle said. "We really knew we wanted to beat them bad as seniors."

Jackson had routed the Tigers (4-11) 7-1 at Central on March 31 in the only other meeting between the two rival schools this spring. Schlick, who has signed to play college soccer next year at Southeast Missouri State, also scored a hat trick in the first meeting, giving her six goals against the Tigers in two games.

"Coach [Justin McMullen] told us before the game, 'Seniors this is the last time you're probably going to get to see Cape unless we see them in districts,'" Schlick said. "So we went out there as hard as we can and with intensity. ... It's always good to score on a team early because you get their confidence level down. We knew Cape played a flat-back four, and usually on flat-back fours you can play three up top. We put three up top and we were able to find the holes and breakaways."

Jackson had 23 shots on goal. Central had just one shot, as Jackson keeper Morgan Riddick caught a ball that was sent in on a cross.

Central coach Elizabeth Fleer started six freshmen. She said she has had to work around some injuries.

"So it's hard when you're going against a team that's mostly juniors and seniors," said Fleer, who added that her freshman have shown improvement.

Fleer sat back on the bench most of the game and noticeably was not as vocal as she had been in previous games against rivals Jackson and Notre Dame.

"I've tried to show them all the tools that they need," Fleer said. "To a certain point, you can't just keep yelling at them. Sometimes it's just better to sit down and watch and see what's going on because sometimes when I'm standing up and directing more I don't see everything that's going on, on the field."

Jackson led 5-0 at halftime. Myracle netted the second, third and ninth goals for Jackson while Schlick scored the fifth, sixth and seventh goals.

"We've been practicing several different things as far as running off the ball," said McMullen, the Indians' co-coach. "It was really nice to see very unselfish [play] with all the kids out there."