Jefferson City blanks Republic to finish 2-0 in Shootout

Jefferson City's Emily McMillian scored two goals Saturday morning against Republic in the Lady Jays Shootout at Jefferson City High School. (Tom Rackers/News Tribune)
Jefferson City's Emily McMillian scored two goals Saturday morning against Republic in the Lady Jays Shootout at Jefferson City High School. (Tom Rackers/News Tribune)

The first quality scoring chance caromed off the post. The second, the same.

The third time was the charm for the Jefferson City Lady Jays.

“It’s a game of inches, one inch here, one inch there can make a difference and you can’t allow a shot going off the post instead of into the net to frustrate you,” Lady Jays coach Scott Blake said Saturday morning after Jefferson City topped the Republic Tigers 2-0 in the Lady Jays Shootout at Jefferson City High School.

Emily McMillian had the first near goal for the Lady Jays, lining a shot off the post and across the mouth of the goal about 10 minutes into the contest. Jada Barlow had the second five minutes into the second half, clanging a shot off the right post back into the field of play.

“They say you’re shooting well if you’re hitting the post, not the crossbar, but the post,” Blake said. “I know shooters can go through streaks like that, but I’d rather have someone hit the post than right at the keeper.”

It would be fair after the second one Jefferson City would be wondering if it was going to be that kind of frustrating day.

But about nine minutes after Barlow’s shot, McMillian got the the Lady Jays on the board. She got the ball to the right side of the Tiger keeper and knocked a shot into the left corner of the net to put Jefferson City on the board.

“Credit to Emily, she has a lot of chances and she mentally sticks with it,” Blake said. “Some days you score, some days you don’t. Some days it goes in easy, some days it doesn’t.

“This was one of those days that it wasn’t easy.”

McMillian added an insurance goal with less than eight minutes remaining. It was her sixth goal in the two-day Shootout.

“The way that we rely on her, it’s OK if she takes a play or two off,” Blake said. “That was a big message for her today. She needs to be on the field because she’s a threat, she can make something happen.

“But she doesn’t need to be game-deciding every time she touches the ball. Allowing her to work in different ways is important for us because we need her to be on the field for 80 minutes and she did a good job of doing that today.”

It was the second straight shutout in the Shootout for the Lady Jays, who blanked Springfield Central 8-0 on Friday night.

“To go 2-0 with two shutouts was big for us,” Blake said. “We’ve always been driven on shutouts and even though we really want shutouts, we’re not as focused on that now.

“We’ve been more about competing and not get as focused on that, just play well.”

Riley McKee got the shutout in goal for Jefferson City, finishing with seven saves.

“We showed a lot of maturity this weekend on the defensive end,” Blake said.

The wins came with Jefferson City missing three starters due to injuries.

“With them out and still get results like we did this weekend, that’s a big positive for us,” Blake said. “It will make us stronger as we head to the playoffs, we just need to get them back.”

Jefferson City (9-7-1), which has tripled its win total from last season, is back in action Monday at Rolla in a matchup of Class 3 District 5 Tournament teams.

“That’s a big one, a seed-deciding game,” Blake said. “I don’t want to put pressure on girls, but they know it has the ability to put us in the top half of the district seeds. It’s a tough game on the road.

“But the way we played this weekend is a big step in having us play well to get a result Monday.”