Saxony Lutheran soccer drops two matches to Poplar Bluff

It’s not every day that a soccer team wins two matches at two different sites against the same team but that is exactly what the Poplar Bluff girl's soccer team did Wednesday, defeating Saxony Lutheran 2-0 at Saxony Lutheran High School and also defeated the Crusaders in a makeup game at Cape Central High School 5-3 via penalty kicks to improve its team record to 5-4 on the season.

“Winning two games against the same team on the same day but at different places doesn’t happen a lot,” Poplar Bluff coach Rusty Clifton said. “Neveah (Larkin) was outstanding for us today. She now has five shutouts on the season and has been solid for us all season.”

The Mules scored the opening goal against the Crusaders in the prequel with 4:23 remaining in the first half as senior Olivia Carda-Smith found the back of the net to give Poplar Bluff the lead heading into intermission.

Saxony Lutheran tried its best to squeak a shot by Larkin but the senior was up to all challenges, turning away 10 shots while Samantha Ruiz scored the Mules' second goal of the game with 30:26 remaining in the second half.

“Saxony (Lutheran) always plays us tough,” Clifton said. “It was a real tight, rough, physical game throughout at Saxony Lutheran so we knew the nightcap here at Cape would be the same as we knew we would pick the game back up in overtime.”

In the makeup game that was originally played on March 23 as part of the SEMO Soccer Classic, both teams ended regulation on that day tied at zero before bad weather moved in.

In the first overtime period, both teams felt each other out and, while each team started fresh, the physicality of the game at Saxony Lutheran High School would carry over to the Cape Central field. Neither team would find the net so a second overtime period would commence.

In the second overtime period, neither team could pick up any sort of momentum as the second 10-minute period once again produced zeroes on the scoreboard to force a penalty kick session that would decide the victor.

Poplar Bluff rode their hot-handed goalkeeper as Larkin turned away two of the five Crusader shot attempts as the Mules found the back of the net five times as the final attempt by Sydney Kramer got by the Saxony Lutheran goalkeeper to seal the win.

With the two wins, Poplar Bluff’s season record improves to 5-4 on the season with a matchup against Jackson on the road Monday at 6:30 p.m. looming.

Saxony Lutheran (5-5) will host St. Pius X (Festus) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Saxony Lutheran High School.