Springfield cruises past Badger in sectional final
Springfield cruises past Badger in sectional final
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NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Springfield began its postseason run with an emphatic win Tuesday. The 12th-seeded Tigers rolled past No. 34 Badger on their home turf 8-0 to advance to the Division V, Northeast 2, district semifinals.
"A win's always good, especially in the tournament, and we got to end it a little bit early. Not as early as I would have hoped, but we did what we had to do," Springfield head coach Justin Kosek said. "I thought it was a little bit sloppy. They kind of gunked up the middle on us, and it kind of messed us up for quite a while until we started going outside again."
Just moments after kickoff, Reagan Peoples set up Emma Zitkovic for the first of her three goals.
It took more than 25 more minutes before another goal, although the Tigers scored that one as well, with Liv Zitkovic putting Springfield ahead 2-0 with 10:57 remaining in the first half.
Four-and-half minutes later, Emma Zitkovic made it 3-0 by firing a shot past Piper Dailey in the bottom left corner of the goal.
Peoples then netted a late first-half goal, putting the Tigers up 4-0 less than 30 seconds before the break.
"I just think we kept trying to fight through one or two of us on four or five of them, and we just couldn’t get through, and there’s no reason to even try it," Kosek said. "So we flipped a couple of girls and started playing wide, and we got down on them pretty quick that way, and were able to get down the field a little faster."
The second half proved to be more of the same, as Emma Zitkovic extended Springfield's lead with a goal within the first seven minutes. Liv Zitkovic then scored again in the 55th minute, triggering a continuously running clock, two-and-a-half minutes before Leah Garcia put one in to increase the advantage to seven.
To call an early end to the night, Kimi Wylie scored from long range in the final minute. Wylie's shot bounced off Dailey and into the net, ending the game 35 seconds prematurely due to the eight-goal mercy rule.
With the win, Springfield (11-6-1) eliminated Badger from the postseason and advanced to the Division V, Northeast 2, district semifinals, where it will play the winner of today's match between No. 10 Columbiana and No. 38 St. Thomas Aquinas.
If the Clippers win, next Tuesday's district semifinals would be a rematch of the Tigers' regular-season finale on Oct. 14, when Springfield lost to Columbiana 1-0.
"That game could have gone either way," Kosek said of the loss to Columbiana. "Annah [Clemmer] got the goal in over top of Ally [Guerriero], and it felt like we took 45 shots in the second half, which is an exaggeration, but it felt like we took 45 shots and just couldn’t get one past her. So hopefully, we can get in a little bit closer. We’re going to go watch them tomorrow.
"We just played and we have the game film, but still, I think sitting on the sidelines and watching a team is different than trying to see what you see on film, and that kind of stuff. And I don’t know, knowing that they were probably going to play us in a week and a half, they probably changed a couple of things up that maybe we’ll see different tomorrow."