You miss every shot you don’t take.
The Jefferson City Jays believed they weren’t taking enough shots at the start of the soccer season.
“The No. 1 thing we wanted to do tonight was up our shot count,” Jays coach Scott Blake said after Monday night’s 2-0 win against the School of the Osage Indians at Jefferson City High School.
“Too many games have slipped away this season because we’re not taking enough shots.”
Jefferson City finished with 12 shots in the game, half of which were on goal.
“It was nice to convert two of them,” Blake said.
Gallery: Jefferson City Boys Soccer vs. School of the Osage
While striving to get more going on the offensive end, Jefferson City did not want to sacrifice anything on defense.
“We don’t want to sell out when we do it, but the way were able to do it tonight is promising,” Blake said.
Rowen Buffington got the Jays on the board just six minutes into the contest. In a scramble in front of the Osage net, Hayden Burks of Jefferson City settled the ball before tapping a pass to Buffington. The sophomore forward then tapped it into the goal to give the Jays the lead.
Osage got its only shot on goal with 23:30 remaining in the second half when Oliver Eno lined a high shot that Jefferson City keeper Drew Heller reached above his head to snare.
“That was a good shot from distance,” Blake said. “When we only give up one shot on goal, we must be doing something right.”
Buffington got an insurance goal about 90 seconds later, driving down the left side before hitting a shot from about 20 yards with his left foot into the far corner of the net.
“He got in behind them often tonight,” Blake said.
Osage, shut out for the fifth time, falls to 0-10 on the season
Jefferson City is back in action this weekend when it hosts the Richard Wilson Classic, with three games scheduled for both Friday and Saturday featuring six total teams play twice.
Jefferson City will play Nixa at noon Friday before taking on Lutheran: St. Charles at 10 a.m. Saturday.
“Those will be two very good games for us,” Blake said.
Other teams in the Classic are Helias, Battle and Joplin.
In Monday’s JV match limited to one half, Osage defeated Jefferson City 1-0.