The West Plains Zizzers overcame an early deficit and scored four unanswered goals to defeat Greenwood 4-1 at home, improving to 2-0 on the season.
Greenwood grabbed the early advantage on a penalty kick during the opening five minutes, but West Plains responded by taking control of the match and shutting the Blue Jays out the rest of the way. Detailed match information was reported by Ozark Radio News following the game.
FINAL: WEST PLAINS 4 • GREENWOOD 1
Zizzers Respond After Early Goal
Falling behind 1-0 did little to slow West Plains.
The Zizzers settled into the match after Greenwood’s early penalty kick and began generating opportunities of their own. West Plains eventually put 12 shots on frame, while its midfield pressure and defensive play kept Greenwood from adding to its early lead.
Once the Zizzers found the equalizer, the momentum belonged to West Plains.
Cox Leads Four-Goal Attack
Junior captain Hudson Cox scored twice to lead the West Plains offense.
Freshman Gerson Anariba added a goal, and senior Malakai Coy also found the net as the Zizzers turned the early 1-0 deficit into a convincing three-goal victory.
ZIZZER GOALS
Hudson Cox — 2
Gerson Anariba — 1
Malakai Coy — 1
West Plains also received assists from Hudson Cox, Malakai Coy, David Bevel and Avenier Kulakevich, according to the postgame report from Ozark Radio News.
ZIZZER ASSISTS
Hudson Cox
Malakai Coy
David Bevel
Avenier Kulakevich
The available report lists the four assists collectively but does not identify which assist belonged to each individual goal, so those pairings are not being inferred here.
Defense Shuts the Door
Greenwood’s penalty kick proved to be its only goal of the night.
After the opening minutes, West Plains’ defense and midfield kept the Blue Jays from finding another breakthrough. The Zizzers applied pressure through the middle of the field, disrupted Greenwood’s buildup and consistently moved the ball forward into attacking opportunities.
The result was four unanswered West Plains goals after Greenwood had scored first.
JV Zizzers Win 2-0
West Plains also picked up a victory in the junior varsity match.
Andy Moore opened the scoring for the Zizzers with an assist from Alexis Cruz. Landen Legler later added the second goal, assisted by Moore.
Goalkeeper Cale Anselm and the West Plains defense finished the match with the shutout.
JV FINAL: WEST PLAINS 2 • GREENWOOD 0
West Plains Improves to 2-0
The victory followed West Plains’ 2-1 season-opening win over New Covenant Academy, giving the Zizzers victories in each of their first two matches. The 2-0 start and Greenwood result are also reflected in MaxPreps’ West Plains-Greenwood game report.
For West Plains, the biggest story of the night was the response. Greenwood struck first, but the Zizzers answered with four straight goals and never allowed the Blue Jays to regain the momentum.
West Plains 4, Greenwood 1.
#GoZizzers #TheZizzerZone
