The Jefferson City Lady Jays were without their starting goalkeeper and leading goal-scorer Thursday night.
It didn't change the game plan for the Lady Jays. And it didn't bring a halt to Jefferson City's winning ways as the Lady Jays defeated the Quincy (Ill.) Blue Devils 2-1 at the 179 Soccer Park.
"A good coach may have changed things, but we decided to play them straight up," Lady Jays coach Tom Guinn said. "We had faith in our players. We just wanted to play and see what happened.
"It wasn't necessarily the best soccer we've played, but we got the result."
The win is the sixth straight for Jefferson City (6-1), ranked sixth in the initial Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association Class 4 poll of the season that was released Thursday.
Despite being down two starters, the Lady Jays dominated play in the first half. Jefferson City kept the ball on the Quincy end of the field, finishing with an 9-1 edge in shots and a 1-0 advantage on the scoreboard.
"We had moments where we looked sharp and we attacked," Guinn said. "We want to get everybody involved and we looked sharp at times. Now it's a matter of doing that all of the time and we're not there yet."
Jefferson City's goal came with six minutes left on the clock from Taylor Burkhead, assisted by McKenzie Gourley.
"(Burkhead) came in off the bench and tucked it away," Guinn said. "It's not always easy to settle a ball in the box like she did, but she was patient and hit it well."
Jefferson City doubled its lead five minutes into the second half.
On corner and free kicks near the goal Thursday night, Quincy repeatedly put 10 defenders in the box, with no one outside to make a potential run for a counter attack.
"That made it hard to score," Guinn said.
But with no Quincy player ready to make a break on offense, that meant Jefferson City could move some of its defensive players into the scoring area.
So when Katie Tambke hooked a free kick into the area in front of the net, defender Greta Haarmann was there to redirect it through the crowd and into the net.
"She didn't have anybody to mark and she got on the ball and got it to go in," Guinn said.
The Blue Devils (4-3-2) got on the board with 14:30 remaining on a goal by Schay Mulherin.
Megan Duffield, a freshman, made three saves and got the win in goal for Jefferson City. Guinn said Duffield is new to soccer. Really new.
"Her first soccer practice ever was March 1 with us," Guinn said. "We're grateful to have her, she did what we needed her to do."
Jefferson City's starting keeper Megan Foster and forward Mackenzie Lochhead will both miss extended time due to their injuries, Guinn said.
"You'll almost never go through a season injury-free," Guinn said. "You just deal with it as best you can and keep going. We had some kids rise to the occasion."
Guinn told the team of its state ranking just prior to the Thursday's game.
"It's flattering, but it's so early in the season," Guinn said. "But it shows people are watching us, they know who we are and we need to prove we belong there."
Jefferson City is back in action Saturday at Father Tolton. The varsity game will start at 9 a.m., followed by an abbreviated junior varsity contest.
In Thursday's JV game, Jefferson City dropped a 3-1 decision to Quincy. Brianne Campbell scored the goal for Jefferson City.