It was feast or famine Friday afternoon for the Jefferson City Lady Jays.
And it was the famine that may have been the more beneficial.
After being blanked in a 1-0 overtime loss to Washington, the Lady Jays came back with a vengeance in an 8-2 victory against Republic in the Jefferson City Shootout at the 179 Soccer Park.
"Washington pushed us, they were physical and that made us play quicker," Jefferson City coach Tom Guinn said. "That's what we needed."
Guinn was excited to see how his team would react against a quality opponent like Washington.
"We really hadn't had the game experience against an opponent like that this season," he said. "And you could tell, because they took it to us. They were pressing us, in the first 10 minutes they came out hard and weren't getting the ball off our feet and we were slow."
Jefferson City's best opportunities to score against Washington may have come in the opening moments of the second half. The Lady Jays had at least three good looks at the goal, but came up empty.
"We had our chances," Guinn said. "We just didn't take advantage of them."
Washington closed regulation with a charge, getting repeated opportunities to score. But the Lady Jays withstood the pressure as the game went to extra time.
The lone goal of the contest came with 2:30 left in the first 10-minute overtime period when University of Missouri signee Cassidy Nurnberger picked up the assist on a goal by Sarah Becziko.
"It was a great learning experience, we can learn from this mistake and make sure we don't do that again," Guinn said. "It was a good game for us. It was fun and beneficial for us."
Jefferson City's offense came alive in the second game against Republic.
It took a little more than two minutes for the Lady Jays to get on the board as Morgan Jordan scored off an assist by Karina Esquivel.
The Lady Jays made it 2-0 midway through the half when Sasha Campbell picked up her first varsity goal, lining a long shot off the hands of the Republic keeper into the back of the net.
"(Campbell) showed up today," Guinn said. "She didn't start today and I think that may have lit a little fire under her."
The start of the second half featured a barrage of goals.
Republic got on the board just three minutes into the half that cut Jefferson City's lead to 2-1 and started at 12-minute stretch that featured a combined six scores.
Kenzie Gourley got that goal back two minutes later for the Lady Jays, assisted by Mackenzie Lochhead. Lochhead then scored off a corner kick by Brianna Campbell a minute later and it was 4-1.
Just two minutes after that, Gourley got her her second goal of the contest as Brianna Campbell picked up another assist.
Brianna Campbell then got a goal of her own to make it 6-1. Republic then closed the burst of scoring with a goal with 25 minutes to go in the contest.
Sasha Campbell scored her second goal of the game before Lexi Acock closed the scoring to make the final 8-2.
Republic finished 0-2 in the shootout after losing its opener 3-0 to Northwest: House Springs.
Washington finished 2-0, beating Northwest: House Springs 1-0 on a penalty kick in the second half by Nurnberger.
The Shootout was shortened from two days to one because of wet weather in today's forecast.
"I'm glad we got the chance to squeeze this in," Guinn said.
Jefferson City (2-1) is back in action Wednesday at home against Parkview. The JV game will start at 4:30 p.m., followed by the varsity contest around 6:15 p.m.