Rick Peck
Special To McDonald County Press
If you were on Jeopardy and Alex Trebeck said "She scored the first goal in the history of McDonald County High School girls soccer," the correct response would be "Who is Karen Gasca."
The freshman knocked in the goal in the 60th minute in the Lady Mustangs' April 14 match at Monett High School.
Even more memorable, though, is that the goal inspired the Lady Mustangs to rally from a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 shoot-out win over the Lady Cubs.
"It was awesome to get that first win," said coach James Carter. "The girls played hard -- they always play hard -- but to be as inexperienced as they are and to get in a game like that against a good team and loud fans and to go to a penalty kick shootout that they have never seen before and come out with a win was awesome."
Monett took a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game and maintained that margin until seemingly adding an insurance goal at the 55th minute mark.
But Gasca answered five minutes later before Kali McClain tied the game with five minutes left in regulation. Both teams went scoreless in two 10-minute overtime periods setting up the penalty kick tiebreaker.
Esmeralda Ramirez scored in the Lady Mustangs' first shot, while Monett's first shot was blocked by McDonald County goalie Courtnie Eberley. Helen Reyes scored in the Lady Mustang's next attempt, but so did Monett, leaving McDonald County with a 2-1 lead. Both teams missed in the third round before Gasca knocked in her penalty kick. When Monett missed in its next attempt, McDonald County had an insurmountable 3-1 lead with one round left in the shootout.
"It got to the point in the shootout it was pretty simple -- put the ball in the back of the net and the girls did a great job of that," Carter said. "Courtnie (Eberley) made a couple of saves and that was that. It was a great first win for the program. I was really excited for the girls. I am happy they had an experience like that because those are the ones you remember."
Neosho Tournament
McDonald County went 0-3 in the Neosho Shootout, losing 5-0 to Springdale and 3-0 to Neosho while dropping a 3-2 decision to the Neosho junior varsity in a shootout.
Gasca got the Lady Mustangs on the scoreboard against the Neosho JV on Friday with a goal in the final minute of the first half.
Neosho tied the game just three minutes into the second half before McClain put the Lady Mustangs back on top just four minutes later. Neosho tied the game at the 50th minute mark and neither team was able to score in the final 20 minutes. McDonald County controlled the final 20 minutes, but couldn't get the ball across the goal line.
"We had a lot of shots on goal, but their keeper played great," Carter said. "It's tough to come back emotionally and physically from a late night where we got our first win"
In the shootout, Neosho scored three times while McDonald County failed to score.
Springdale scored three first period goals en route to its 5-0 win in the Lady Mustangs first game on Saturday. The Neosho varsity also took a 3-0 lead at intermission, but McDonald County held the Lady Wildcats scoreless in the second half.
McDonald County is now 1-7 heading into its April 21 match at Springfield Catholic. Game time is 5 p.m.
Sports on 04/21/2016