With Conference play in full swing, there were four matches last night, two of them with implications in the title chase. If you recall, the Regional poll of the coaches on April 6th had the teams ranked as follows: 1. Kickapoo 2. Rolla 3. Parkview 4. Waynesville 5. Glendale & Joplin (tie).
Since that time, Kickapoo traveled to Rolla and lost 0-1, defeated Joplin 4 – 0 on April 12th and got by Glendale 1-0 April 19th on a late direct kick by Rachel Lavoy. Yesterday Kickapoo won their match against Parkview 4 – 0. The News-Leader features the Parkview game on the front page of the Sports section today.
Rolla meanwhile took on Catholic & Joplin over the weekend as part of the Capital City Tournament, losing 0 – 3 to Catholic in an upset (Rolla is ranked #11 in Class II at the moment). Coach Mike Howard offers some comments on the games at the Rolla website. Rolla beat Joplin 2 – 0 in the Tourney game and turned around and played Joplin at home on Tuesday in the Conference matchup. The 4 – 0 win keeps Rolla undefeated and on top of the Ozark Conference.
Glendale was ranked very low at the beginning of the season but should be working their way up the Coaches poll with their win last night over Waynesville 3 -2. That follows their win over Parkview on April 12th by a 3 – 0 score.
That leaves the traditional powers at the top of the Conference with Rolla holding the advantage on the basis of their undefeated conference record and their win over Kickapoo earlier this season. With a win over Glendale Thursday evening the Bulldogs would control their destiny in the Conference. The match is being played at Lake Country Soccer Field #2.
