The learning process continues.
It’s just painful at times.
“I’m continually impressed with the way the girls continually re-engage,” Jefferson City coach Scott Blake said Thursday night after the Lady Jays dropped a 7-0 decision to the Hannibal Pirates at Adkins Stadium. “They come back to practice wanting to learn, wanting a better tomorrow.
“It’s a positive outlook, but there’s no doubt we’re struggling.”
Blake, in his first season with the Lady Jays, is confident Jefferson City has the tools to be successful. It’s just a matter of confidence.
“We believe we have more in us, I don’t know if the girls believe that every day,” Blake said. “We need to get it locked in. I think the girls are cheating themselves a little bit, I don’t think there’s a game this year that I didn’t believe we had a little more in the tank when it was over.
“That’s good because we can continue to try to unlock that. We’re staying positive, we just need the girls to believe.”
Hannibal, No. 11 in Class 3 in the initial Missouri Soccer Coaches Association’s power rankings, dominated the first half.
Bella Falconer scored twice in the opening 13 minutes and assisted on another score as the Pirates jumped out to a 3-0 early lead.
Hannibal added two more goals in the final 10:20 of the half to take a 5-0 advantage into intermission. The Pirates outshot the Lady Jays 19-3 in the half, including a 14-1 edge in shots on goal.
The Lady Jays made a defensive adjustment to do more man-marking in the second half.
“We do a good job of getting back on defense, but we are too far away from the attackers,” Blake said. “That was clear in the first half. We’ve been a zone-type defense, we need to man-mark from 30 yards in.
“We’re not doing a good job of helping (goalkeeper) Riley (McKee) out if we don’t develop that.”
It worked as the Pirates scored twice in the second half. Blake was pleased with what he saw out of his team in the final 40 minutes.
“We did a better job of winning 50/50 balls, we were more aggressive,” Blake said. “We just need to do it for 80 minutes.”
With the win, Hannibal improves to 13-3.
Jefferson City (2-9), missing four players due to injuries, is back in action Tuesday at home against Sedalia Smith-Cotton in a Central Missouri Activities Conference contest.
In Thursday’s JV game, Jefferson City blanked Hannibal 1-0. Jaden Peters scored for the Lady Jays, while Jada Barlow and Mariah McKinney split time in goal in the shutout.