It worked once this season, so Jefferson City wasn't hesitant to try it again.
It worked again, but not to the very end.
"Kirkwood is just a monster," Lady Jays coach Dal DuBois said Friday after Jefferson City ended its own Shootout with a 3-0 loss to the Pioneers at the 179 Soccer Park.
The plan was to pack it in defensively against Kirkwood in an attempt to slow its potent offense. It was a strategy that was successful in a 1-0 victory in penalty kicks earlier this month against Rock Bridge.
"We thought that was our best chance to be successful," DuBois said.
Kirkwood had 14 shots in a scoreless first half, with Jefferson City keeper Riley McKee getting four saves in the opening 40 minutes.
The Pioneers finally broke onto the scoreboard midway through the second half on a bit of an unlucky break for the Lady Jays. Kirkwood was awarded a penalty kick when a ball took a high bounce near the net and struck the hand of a Jefferson City player.
"It just took a bad bounce and just hit one of our girls," DuBois said.
Ilsa Newland converted on the PK for the Pioneers with 21:10 on the clock.
"We stressed to the girls not to get down, it was a bad break and we needed to keep working hard and lift each other up," DuBois said.
At that point, the defensive strategy had stifled Jefferson City's offense. Down by the goal, the Lady Jays got their first shot of the game off free kick with a little more than 18 minutes left.
"We just didn't have any offense, we weren't even getting to the finishing third," DuBois said.
As time started to wind down, Jefferson City shifted to a more offensive attack in an attempt to tie the contest.
"We moved some of our offensive players up front, we had to throw the kitchen sink at them to get some opportunities," DuBois said. "And we had a couple of good opportunities to score.
"But when you do that, there's always the chance you're going to leave yourself open on defense."
Kirkwood scored twice in the final eight minutes to make the final 3-0.
"We just had a couple of mistakes," DuBois said. "But that's not a bad game, we can build off that. Kirkwood is very talented, they're good."
Jefferson City opened play in the one-day Shootout with a 4-0 victory against William Chrisman.
"We worked very hard all week in practice on communicating with each other," DuBois said. "I think you could really see that in the first game."
Emily McMillian got Jefferson City on the board, off an assist by Ava Canale.
With less than two minutes remaining in the opening half, Lindsey Ruff doubled Jefferson City's lead with a goal off an assist by McMillan.
The Lady Jays made it 3-0 early in the second half when Daelynn Scheulen scored off Canale's second assist in the contest.
"Ava had an awesome game," DuBois said.
Scheulen got the final goal off a long throw-in by Leah Kolb.
McKee was in goal for the shutout.
"We're a good team, we can put some things together," DuBois said. "We're going to go full speed ahead the rest of the season."
Jefferson City (6-7) returns to action Monday at Rolla.