The McDonald County High School girls' soccer team remains winless, but it gets closer to breaking into the win column with each outing.
The Lady Mustangs' latest loss was a 2-1 decision to Monett in a match that came down to penalty kicks after the teams tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods.
Monett took a 1-0 lead in the first half, taking advantage of a strong south wind on April 12 at MCHS to score at the 23 minute mark.
McDonald County goalie Nikki Salas kept the score close during the first half, recording four saves in the first 40 minutes.
McDonald County managed just one shot on goal the first half while fighting a 20-30 m.p.h. wind, but started the second half with several scoring opportunities.
After a couple near misses, freshman Azlen Smith knocked in a rebound of a shot by sophomore Nautica Gutierrez at the 16-minute mark of the second half to tie the match.
Neither team was able to score in the remainder of regulation play or in the two 10-minute overtime periods, to send the match to penalty kicks to break the tie.
Both teams missed their first penalty kicks before Smith put the Lady Mustangs up 1-0. Monett tied on its next shot and then went on to claim a 3-1 edge in penalty kicks for the 2-1 win.
McDonald County falls to 0-4 for the season heading into its April 19 match at Springfield Catholic.
Aurora
McDonald County dropped a 3-2 decision to Aurora on April 10 at Aurora High School.
Gutierrez scored the Lady Mustangs' first goal from an assist by Kaycee Factor.
Karla Barreda scored McDonald County's second goal with an assist from Ava Smith.
In the junior varsity match, McDonald County claimed a 3-0 decision. Factor, Azlen Smith and Alexia Estrada had goals for the Lady Mustangs while Leslie Yousey had an assist.
Sports on 04/19/2018