Tired runners-up

A long week of soccer finally came to an end for the Smith-Cotton Tigers on Saturday in the championship match of Smith-Cotton Invitational.

Smith-Cotton dropped a 4-1 decision to the Moberly Spartans, the sixth game of the week for the Tigers.

“It was a long week, but you know, all in all, 2-1 in the tournament is pretty good for us. I was pleased,” said Smith-Cotton coach Jason Curry.

“We played well starting Thursday night (against Jefferson City). Thursday night was the best soccer we’d played. Friday night, we continued that. I thought we played well last night. We played well this morning, and the tank was pretty much on empty this second game.”

Smith-Cotton (6-7) defeated Lebanon 4-1 on Friday night in its first tournament game, and then got a three-goal effort from Alex Lang on Saturday morning in a 4-1 win over St. Joseph Benton.

Moberly defeated Benton 4-1 on Friday and Lebanon 7-1 on Saturday morning.

The first half of the championship game was scoreless, but Moberly controlled much of the action.

The Spartans spent the majority of the half on their offensive end, putting pressure on the Tigers defense and goalkeeper Charlie Wheeler.

Wheeler was equal to the task, turning away repeated shots on goal. Moberly’s Ian Sosniecki, Aaron Heathman, and Antonio Quiroga each had solid shots, but Wheeler stopped them all.

The Tigers nearly dented the scoreboard in the final two minutes of the half when Lang crossed the ball to Trevor Leary in front of the goal. Leary’s shot sailed high and the game remained knotted at zero at the break.

Moberly needed only  25 seconds to get the game’s first score as the second half began. Quiroga worked loose in front of the goal and punched it in for a 1-0 Spartan advantage.

Smith-Cotton got the equalizing goal eight minutes later.

Skyler Lee dribbled up the right side, crossed the ball to Cody Meyer, and Meyer booted it in to tie the game at 1.

“The kids played hard the first half, zero to zero,” Curry said. “We got down one, but we fought back. Too many mistakes, but mistakes come when you’re tired. Usually injuries do too, so I’m glad to see that we’re not too beat up.”

After the Tigers tied the game, the Spartans began to take control.

Heathman scored on a rebound of a shot by Grayden Pretz and Moberly took a 2-1 lead.

“They are a good team,” said Curry. “They move the ball well. They possess and work the ball well together. We just, unfortunately, didn’t have the energy to run with them today.”

Ethan Roth scored nine minutes later when his shot deflected off a Smith-Cotton defender’s leg and found the back of the net, increasing the lead to 3-1.

Pretz closed out the scoring with 12 minutes remaining on a booming shot from directly in front.

Though disappointed with the loss, Curry was happy with the way his team improved through the busy week of soccer.

“I thought the kids played well. They played hard. There’s only so much you can ask. I think they put out everything they could right now,” Curry said.

In the other game played Saturday, Benton defeated Lebanon 3-2 for third place.