Two second-half goals lead Lady Jays past Camdenton

The Jefferson City Lady Jays get ready to face Camdenton Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at 179 Soccer Park.
The Jefferson City Lady Jays get ready to face Camdenton Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at 179 Soccer Park.

It took some time, but the Jefferson City Lady Jays found the back of the net.

"Once we start rolling, once we start figuring out where we want to move the ball, we're good offensively," Jefferson City coach Joren Trimble said Wednesday night as the Lady Jays opened their home schedule with a 2-0 victory against the Camdenton Lady Lakers at the 179 Soccer Park. "It just took 50-55 minutes tonight."

Jefferson City scored its goals in less than a two-minute span.

The first came with a little more than 28 minutes remaining. Morgan Jordan connected with Bailey Dey on a pass toward the Camdenton net and Dey knocked the shot into the opposite corner to give the Lady Jays the lead.

"We train for combo plays and we know we're going to get our chances," Trimble said. "Then it's just a matter of finishing.

"We needed them to step up and that's what they did, fortunately, because we were in a big struggle. They came through when we needed them to do it."

Jefferson City doubled its lead with a little less than 27 minutes remaining. Sasha Campbell broke loose past the Camdenton defense down the right side and drilled a shot into the net to give the Lady Jays an insurance goal.

"She knows her role, she's a difference maker for us," Trimble said.

Both teams had good chances to score in the first half.

Campbell took a pass from Daelynn Scheulen midway through the half and had her shot bounce away off the post. Just a couple of minutes later, Aeryn Kennedy of Camdenton had a shot carom off the crossbar on a free kick.

But for most of the opening 40 minutes, it seemed like the Lady Jays were playing a step slow on the offensive side.

"We've been on a lot of playing surfaces so far this spring," Trimble said. "I think we're having trouble timing ourselves because we weren't 100 percent sure of how the ball was going to react."

Megan Duffield got the shutout in goal, her second of the season. She made one save.

Despite the blanking, Trimble is looking for more out of his team on the defensive end.

"We weren't very organized," Trimble said. "Especially early, but things got better as the game went on."

Camdenton is now a deceptive 0-5 to start the season. Three of the Lady Lakers' losses have been one-goal decisions.

"They are a strong team, they are pushing to improve," Trimble said.

The Lady Jays (2-0) are back in action Friday and Saturday in the Parkway Showcase in St. Louis.

Jefferson City will face Sacred Heart-Griffin from Springfield, Ill., at 5 p.m. Friday before facing Valley View from Jonesboro, Ark., at noon Saturday.

"They are both quality teams," Trimble said. "And if we start the way we started tonight, we could very well be playing from behind, so we need to be ready from the opening whistle."

In Wednesday's JV game, Jefferson City defeated Camdenton 1-0.

Kourtney Blatz tallied the goal for the Lady Jays.