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It figured to be a bit of a mismatch. It was. Gia Pardalos scored five goals Monday, the last coming with 25:26 remaining in the second half to end it, as the Capital City Lady Cavaliers defeated the Owensville Dutchgirls 8-0 at Capital City High School.
It turned out to be worth the wait. After a weather delay of just less than two hours, the Capital City Lady Cavaliers scored three goals in each half Friday in a 6-0 victory against the Branson Lady Pirates at Capital City High School.
The start was anything but slow. “One of our biggest problems last year was we weren’t really clicking, high-intensity, focused during warmup,” Capital City coach Travis Cairer said Monday night after the Lady Cavaliers scored four times in the first eight-plus minutes in a 7-2 victory against the Warrenton Warriors at Capital City High School. “That led to a lot of slow and sluggish starts, so we’ve been harping about coming out of the gate firing. We don’t want to be put back on our heels early, that happened too much last year.”
The longer the game went on, the more it looked like one break would be the deciding factor. The Jefferson City Jays and the Capital City Cavaliers were scoreless for more than 60 minutes into Tuesday night’s Central Missouri Activities Conference matchup at the 179 Soccer Park.
It was the defense that won it. That might have been difficult to see at the start Tuesday night as the Capital City Lady Cavaliers and Father Tolton Lady Blazers were tied at 2 midway through the first half at Dwight T. Reed Stadium. It just took a little change in strategy to turn the game around for the Lady Cavaliers.