Springfield MO Soccer

High School soccer will try to get some games in this week, we’ll wait to see how well the weather cooperates.

Joplin McAuley Warriors opens their season tonight, hosting District foe Greenwood Blue Jays.
Catholic and Willard renew rivalries on Tuesday, following the District Final last year.
Greenwood also visits Willard, on Wednesday. These teams last met in the District semifinals last year, with Willard winning in stoppage time on a goal by current senior Patsy Middleton to advance to their first ever District Final. Varsity only, 5:00 pm start.
It’s also time for the first derby between Glendale and Kickapoo on Wednesday. Cooper Soccer Complex is the site for the game and both teams are hungry for wins. Should be fun!

April 11- 12 the Kickapoo Chiefs host the annual Kickapoo Shootout. Traditionally the best local High School soccer tournament, new coach Phil Hodge has expanded the size and quality this year.

The field includes 8 state-ranked teams plus Rogers AR, a perennial 7A power in AR. It includes St Teresa’s (#2 from KC), Liberty (#6, KC) Lafayette (#7, STL), Jeff City (#12), Jackson (#13, Cape ), and Oakville (#14 STL) along with Class 1 powers Springfield Catholic (#6) and Notre Dame (#7, STL). Glendale is also participating.

The Christian County Tournament is also scheduled for this weekend, hosted by Ozark Tigers and Nixa Eagles. The final schedule is still be determined and should be posted on the Tigers website in a day or two.

Saturday, the Missouri State Bears will play the Missouri Science & Technology Miners at Plaster in a Spring exhibition game. Start time is 6:00 pm and I hope to catch up with new Miner signee, Zack Hay for a recruiting story.

Plenty of good soccer to see at Coester’s this week as well. The Champions League continues on Tuesday and Wednesday, 1:30 pm start times for the 2nd leg of the Quarterfinal games. And on Wednesday evening the NE Revolution visit the KC Wizards. 7:00 pm start time on that one.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point to tonights NCAA Basketball Final. It’s one sporting event outside of soccer that I really enjoy, having attended the Final 4 as well as a dozens of Regional games in the past 20 years. And with all of the Coaching stories we’ve had recently, here’s another lesson

“Coach Brown was really good at making the game easy for the players,” said Self.

In a profession known for exorbitant salaries and overcoaching, Calipari and Self are much more inclined to let their guys, well, just play — to the point where after his team rolled to a 40-12 lead over North Carolina on Saturday, Self proclaimed, “There were times when I didn’t have much control over what was going on out there.”

“You recruit players and the challenge is to get them to play together,” Calipari said. “You want to put your players in position to have success.”

Hat tip to The Daily Fix