St. Pius X blanks Cape Central soccer 3-0

The offensive struggles continued for Cape Central Thursday as the Tigers hosted St. Pius X from Festus and were shut out at home 3-0 at Cape Central High School.

It is the second time this season that the Tigers have been held scoreless, while senior goalkeeper Demi Drum and the defense have kept the game close.

“We have to pass better, especially when we are counter-attacking,” Cape Central coach Duncan McKinley said. “If we can try and connect our passes better going forward and maintain possession more I think we can move the ball better downfield because early on it seems like we are always defending more than we want to be.”

The Lancers maintained possession of the ball for a big chunk of the contest, always putting pressure on the Tiger’s defenders and Drum, who made several nice saves to thwart any attempt at a second-chance score. The offense could simply not get any momentum going.

St. Pius scored two goals in the opening half and added the third goal at the 34:05 mark of the second half as the Lancers displayed nice passing, setting up a great look that hit the back of the net past a diving Drum.

St. Pius X attempted two late-game scores as the Lancers were knocking on the goal box at the four-minute mark but was called offsides and nearly eased a shot passed Drum with just over a minute remaining but were unsuccessful.

“It’s a long season,” McKinley said. “We just have to keep working and improve on the things we’re not good at and build upon the things we are. We play a pretty tough schedule, especially here at the beginning of the season, so we have to stay positive and hopefully, we can start playing better together as a whole.”

Cape Central (0-4) will host Perryville (2-1) at 5 p.m. on Monday at Cape Central High School.