Jefferson City girls blank Blair Oaks in soccer

The Jefferson City Lady Jays and Blair Oaks Lady Falcons shake hands after Friday night's action at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville. (Tom Rackers/News Tribune)
The Jefferson City Lady Jays and Blair Oaks Lady Falcons shake hands after Friday night's action at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville. (Tom Rackers/News Tribune)

WARDSVILLE -- They both got something out of it.

The Jefferson City Lady Jays and the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons met for the first time in soccer Friday night at the Falcon Athletic Complex. The Lady Jays scored three goals in the first 20 minutes on their way to a 4-0 victory against the Lady Falcons.

“We played early, which was good, we scored early, which was good,” Jefferson City coach Scott Blake said. “That allowed just to work on some things. We played some girls in different spots, we changed some positions.

“We prioritized team shape, something we need to do looking toward the rest of the season.”

For the Lady Falcons, playing their first season, it was a chance to take on a quality varsity program.

“Playing Jeff City is important because they are going to make you better,” Blair Oaks coach Joren Trimble said. “Coach Blake is one of the top coaches in the state, he’s going to have his team trained well and you are going to have to play well against them or they will make you pay.

“It’s good for us to play against teams like that.”

Jefferson City got on the board less than two minutes into the contest. The Lady Jays hit a short corner kick to Emily McMillian, who drove toward the goal and lined a shot into the corner of the net.

“We didn’t step fast enough, that’s the inexperience side of it,” Trimble said.

The Lady Jays then added two goals in a two-minute span near the halfway point of the first half.

Jada Barlow tallied the goal for the Lady Jays off an assist by McMillian to make it 2-0. The Lady Jays extended their lead to 3-0 when Izzy Schmidt lined a shot that went off the legs of two Lady Falcon defenders and into the net.

Jefferson City then spent the remainder of the half working on possessing the ball and took the three-goal lead into intermission.

Blair Oaks did not have a shot in the first half.

“We have to be able to build the ball,” Trimble said. “We have to find a way to get forward.”

The Lady Jays turned up the offensive pressure at the start of the second half, totaling nine shots on goal in the opening 14 minutes against Lady Falcons keeper Tayla Prenger.

Only one got past her. Barlow was waiting for a crossing pass from McMillian that went across the front of the goal where she tapped it into the net a little less than 11 minutes into the half.

Prenger had an impressive night in the net, finishing with 17 saves in the game for the Lady Falcons.

“We had some shots right at her, but we had some shots placed very well that she got to,” Blake said. “I’ve been reading the paper seeing how many saves she’s been making and wondering how many in reality it was.

“But I saw it tonight, I’m a believer. She gets her hands to a lot of shots that are definitely going in, she had three or four saves like that tonight.”

Trimble believes Prenger is a unique talent in goal.

“She can make saves,” he said. “She’s doing anything and everything we ask of her.

“But at some point, we have to reward her.”

That wasn’t going to be Friday night as Blair Oaks had just one shot on goal in the second half.

“We worried too much about who we were playing, we got flat-footed instead of stepping to the ball,” Trimble said. “It didn’t allow us to get out of our half a lot of the time.”

Blake said Jefferson City and Blair Oaks have some similarities.

“We’re both in a rebuilding or building phase,” he said. “We both have about 16 players who have never played 11 v. 11 soccer before. The difference is he has 18 total players and we have 41. It’s a matter of numbers.

“I get where they are and you are just looking to see growth. It’s not measuring things in wins and losses, it’s finding progress in other areas if you get everyone committed to the process.”

And you can’t hurry the process, no matter how painful it can be.

“You feel like every day you’re saying, ‘be patient, your time will come,’” Trimble said.

Blair Oaks (1-10) will be back in action Thursday through Saturday at the Dixon Tournament.

Jefferson City (4-2) will travel Tuesday to Columbia to take on Rock Bridge in a Central Missouri Activities Conference contest.