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The Ozark Tigers defeated the Lebanon Yellowjackets 8-0 in the first round of the Missouri Class 4 District 5 tournament on Monday afternoon.
This ended the 2023 season for LHS, but head coach Matt Jernigan thought his team showed plenty of resilience throughout the entire season.
The team showed gritty effort and fought hard this season as they battled adversity.
“Wins and losses wise, it was a tough season,” he stated. “We went 5-20, but we did not feel like our record was indicative of how we played this year. The boys played really well and were competitive all year. We lost 12 games this season by one or two goals. We were close in a lot of games and just couldn’t get the goal at the time we needed it most. I think part of that was youth. We are still young at the varsity level, but goal scoring will be a point of emphasis in our off season this year for sure.
“I was very happy with our whole team defensively. We gave up 27 less goals this year than we did last year. That is a huge number and it shows how much this team battled night in and night out to be solid defensively. We were also playing our best soccer at the end of the year. We gave West Plains and Camdenton, two very good teams, competitive games and had a chance in both of those. Then in our district loss, our boys really battled the whole time against Ozark who is probably one of the strongest teams in southern Missouri.”
According to Jernigan, the team says goodbye to one senior in Jordan Light and will return 32 players next season.
“We have a very talented Junior class who will be looking to end their senior season as strong as they can,” he explained. “They are very motivated to improve and make next year the best they can. We will be bringing back ten starters on the varsity side next year, so we are optimistic on what we will be able to do with this group next year.”
As many fans have heard, the Yellowjackets will head to the Central Ozark Conference next season. Jernigan says the team is excited for the new opportunity, but knows the challenge will be difficult.
“The COC is going to be a great conference in all sports, but I think soccer might be one of the top sports talent wise,” he said. “It is going to be the premier conference for soccer in the area and probably one of the best in the state. With the 13 teams in the COC, there are no easy games. We will have to up our game to compete at that level night in and night out.”
