Springfield MO Soccer

I’m glad I took the time to ignore the weather and get out to catch the majority of the match between the Glendale Falcon’s and the West Plains Zizzer’s this evening. It was a good game with both teams working hard with an eye to the upcoming District matches. I was also interested in seeing if Jessica Brixey would be able to penetrate the Falcon’s defense which has solidified in front of goalkeeper Laura McElroy as the season progresses.

You may recall that last week, Jessica (#7 pictured above behind the goalkeeper) tied the Zizzer’s scoring record. From April 25th:

After waiting out the storms, West Plains defeated Hillcrest tonight 6-0. Jessica Brixey tied the school record for goals in a game with 4 and is now 1 Goal shy of the school single season record of 16 set by Alina Alaimo in 1998. Alina went on to play 4 years at what was then Southwest Missouri State.

Alina coaches for the Windy City Pride club in Chicago. From the Pride site - Alina Alaimo, is a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University. Alina earned All-Conference honors all four years, as well as regional honors one year. She was named to the All-Tournament team two year in a row in the conference finals, and helped lead the team to their first conference championship. Alina currently plays semi-professional soccer in the W-league for the Windy City Bluez.

Jessica scored her goal in the 77th minute of the match when she outraced two defenders from midfield into the box, where she calmly slotted her shot over the onrushing goalkeeper before tumbling to the ground in a hard collision. Coach Schmitt substituted her out of the game at that point to allow her to recover and be greeted by her teammates on the bench who were seemingly more excited then Jessica by her efforts. Congratulations Jessica!