The Wright City Lady Wildcats were unable to overcome a slow start in their loss to Eastern Missouri Conference foe Elsberry last week. 

Wright City fell to Elsberry 4-1 in a home conference game last Friday. The Lady Wildcats fell behind 2-0 in the first half before trimming the Elsberry lead down to 2-1 less than four minutes into the second half on Paige Rees’ long-range goal. The Lady Wildcats had another scoring chance earlier in the half when they hit the crossbar. 

Head Coach Jacob Wallace stressed the Lady Wildcats did not play their best in the first half. He credited Wright City for responding in the second half and putting themselves in a position to win the game. 

“They played much more aggressive in the second half and I think it’s a lesson for us,” Wallace said. “We have to start at our 100% capacity from the very get and play that way all the way through the game. That’s definitely something we learned today.”

Wright City remained within striking distance the first part of the second half and controlled possession a majority of the first 20 minutes of the half. The game turned after Elsberry was awarded a penalty shot with 19:15 remaining in the half after Wright City committed a foul in the penalty box. 

“It’s difficult when your energy is up,” Wallace said. “You get it back to 2-1. You feel like you’re competing. You feel like you’re about to get back into the game. And then you give up one like that and then it gets to 3-1…Once again though, it’s the lesson of playing hard for the full 80. Because we didn’t play hard at the beginning. We played really well in that middle part and kind of fell off again at the end.”

The Lady Wildcats were able to weather the storm in the first half and keep the game close, which Wallace thought was huge for their chances in the second half. He credited the Wright City players for continuing to compete in the first half even when they were not seeing positive results. 

Wallace said his focus for the Lady Wildcats in the next couple weeks is to stress starting fast in games. They need to be locked in starting with warmups, he said. He also wants to see the Lady Wildcats continue to progress in passing through the middle third of the field. 

“They’re getting better at these patterns they can use to work the ball up the field,” Wallace said. “I just want to see more repetitions of them happening. Because the more they do it, the better they’re going to get at it. And really, that’s when our team’s playing its best is when they’re moving the ball quick up the field instead of just dribbling with one person.”

Wright City dropped a non-conference game to St. Charles West earlier this week. They fell to the Warriors 2-1. Wright City was slated to host Mexico High School Wednesday. They will play at Winfield Monday.