The Caro Tigers were traveling to the Marlette headquarters on a summer like beautiful afternoon with temperatures reaching 75F. With only 12 players on the Roster and missing 3 players for this away game , the visitors from Caro were confident to tackle their first game against Marlette.

The coach had clear instructions to put the effort, take the control of the game and show constant discipline all along. In other words, the coach wanted his team to basically "set the tone" right at the start.

Fair enough, as soon as the referees blew the whistle for the start of the game, the Caro Tigers demonstrated possession and control of the game and had their first shot exhibited by Junior and right forward player Lexie Johnson.

The practices lately seemed to have inspired the visitors since triangular passing, going first to the ball and tight marking were among those successes to have the Tigers dominate the soccer game.

On a beautiful cross by Johnson, Captain and Junior left forward player Faith MacDonald intercepted the ball to score first to put the Tigers on the scoreboard. Then, Captain and center midfielder Olivia Walker, who controlled the middle of the field, fed an amazing ball to Johnson who did not lose the opportunity to place it in the net at the top right corner. With a 2 goal lead, the visitors kept pressing their offense and stopping every attempt to get closer to their goalie and Captain Cheyenne Bearden who was doing amazing considering it was new to her. Junior Johnson kept pressing the Marlette defense and was able to intercept a ball from their defender to dribble in their box and score her second goal. Apparently, the Marlette defense got overwhelmed by the Tigers aggressive offense and could not handle additional breakaways. Fair enough, Senior and Captain center forward Katie Scharrer managed to steal a ball from her opponent and find at her reach for a pass to Walker who delivered a beautiful shot outside the box to surprise the Marlette goalie for the 4th goal. The rest of the first half was all about triangular passes, ball control and possession.

Both teams retrieved to their lockers after the first half which was in favor of the Tigers. The speech from the coach was more rewarding to the whole team as his instructions were followed mostly. The message to his players was not to lose the momentum and continue pressing their defense and close their midfield and stop any breakaways attempts on the Marlette side. With only 1 sub on the team, the players were out of breath but still pumped up by the great performance they delivered during the first half. Freshmen Alexis Nesbitt, Molina Dewald and Madison Olar were used on a rotation substitution for the left and right midfield positions. All those 3 players demonstrated a surprising good performance considering their age and grade. The defensive lineup consisting of Sophomores Julianna Goff, Lily Lemmon, Amanda Rhodes and Abby Beecher was solid by stopping most attempts of the Marlette offensive crew and protecting their goalie Bearden.

The second half started with uncertainty from the hosting team but you could see they wanted to prove something else to the crowd. The Marlette team kept pressing the Tigers defense trying to find any weaknesses until they were awarded a free kick from outside the box. The shot was almost perfect beating the Caro defensive wall and their goalie to land just underneath the crossbar for their first goal. The Tigers kept their focus as the 4-1 score was still reasonable to secure a win tonight. A breakaway from the Caro offensive squad was led by Captain Scharrer who found right winger Johnson to score her third goal (Hat Trick) of the night. Captain Walker scored her second goal of the night by winning the ball against their defender with a shot who surprised the goal tender from Marlette. Finally, Marlette was awarded with a breakaway which ended up with their second goal. Final score 6-2 for the visiting Tigers from Caro.

The MVP (Most Valuable Player) award was presented to Junior and right forward player Lexie Johnson who scored 3 goals and assisted 1 goal. She played an amazing game with the undeniable support from her teammates.

Next game is away at Memphis at 5:30 pm on Thursday April 8th. Bus leaves at 3:30 pm from the Caro high school.