Willard Tigers Soccer

Coach Owens will be leaving the Willard School District after 14 years and has accepted the position of assistant principal at Bolivar High School. With his departure, Willard High School Activities Director Jeff Staley has announced that the new coaching staff for Willard High School will be Tim Magee and Geoff Meiss. Coach Magee will be the head boy’s coach and Coach Meiss will be the head girl’s coach - each will assist the other. Coach Magee will carry on his excellent coaching while Coach Meiss will bring loads of experience and a fresh outlook to the program. Willard High School is very fortunate to have two highly qualified individuals to lead the Tigers to greater accomplishments.

Congrats to the Lady Irish on another district championship. Bolivar game them one heck of a game. Enjoy game photos here.

The Catholic Lady Irish won another District 12 title Wednesday night with a 3-0 win over Bolivar. The halftime score of 0-0 gave the Irish a scare until they earned a PK in the second half. Although there was a hard collision in the box, both pictures and video seem to add questions to the call. You hate for a game to be decided by a questionable call in the box. The Lady Liberators should be proud of a great match against the mighty Irish. Congratulations to Coach Timson and we wish them well as they stride further through post-season play.

Catholic 8, Willard 0
Bolivar 3, West Plains 2 (2OT)

Championship: Wednesday, May 14th at 6:00PM

Playing the early game of the day, Willard scored first as Ali Appleby converted on Janine Bird’s assist. McAuley answered with a goal of their own before Willard’s Patsy Middleton converted a penalty kick after she was taken down from behind in the box. The game reached the half with Willard ahead 2-1. In the second half, Kara Dehn found the net off an assist from Ali Appleby which gave the Tigers a two goal margin. The final goal for Willard came off the foot of senior Janine Bird and Willard cruised to a 4-1 victory. Willard will meet Catholic in the semi-final game on Monday at 5:00PM.

Willard 4, Joplin McAuley 1
Catholic 18, Liberty 0
Bolivar 3, Greenwood 2 (OT)
West Plains 4, Marshfield 0

Monday: #1 Catholic vs. #4 Willard - 5:00PM
#2 Bolivar vs. #3 West Plains - 7:00PM

On a soggy field yet beautiful evening, the #8 seed Liberty Lady Eagles found the net over and over as they beat #9 seed Pleasant Hope 7-0. Freshman Shelly Renegar found the net five times as she led her team to victory. Tomorrow may be a different story as the Eagles must return to face #1 seed Springfield Catholic. Congratulations on your first post-season win Liberty!

Willard visited the Nixa Eagles on Tuesday afternoon and found themselves tied 0-0 heading into overtime. After two overtime periods, the teams headed to the penalty kick shoot-off. Nixa, only hitting on one of their first four shots due to strong play from Goalkeeper Morgan Ulesich, gave Willard an opportunity to win the game on their fourth penalty kick. After Patsy Middleton nailed one off the post, Senior Janine Bird and Junior Amanda Rosier each put their shot safely in the net setting up the game winner for the younger Bird sister. Junior Anne Bird nailed the game winner and the celebration was on!

The Willard Tigers played a strong defensive game against Lebanon on Monday night and were in the ball game until the 66th minute when a penalty kick gave the Yellowjackets a 2-1 advantage. As Willard pushed players forward in an attempt to find the equalizer, Lebanon was able to find net for their third goal of the evening.

The Willard Tigers would like to wish Coach Gow the best of luck in his new position as he makes the switch from Lebanon to Waynesville.

The Class 1, District 12 Tournament will be played at Willard High School for the fourth year in a row. The schedule has been set and games will be played as follows:

Friday, May 9th:

#8 Liberty (Mountain View) 7 vs. #9 Pleasant Hope 0

Saturday, May 10th:

9:00 AM - #4 Willard vs. #5 McAuley
10:45 AM - #1 Catholic vs. #8 Liberty (Mountain View)
12:30 PM - #2 Bolivar vs. #7 Greenwood
2:15 PM - #3 West Plains vs. #6 Marshfield

Monday, May 12th:

5:00 PM - #4/5 Winner vs. #1/8 Winner
7:00 PM - #2/7 Winner vs. # 3/6 Winner

Wednesday, May 14th:

6:00PM - Championship