KNOXVILLE — The Prairie City-Monroe girls’ soccer team continues to trend in the right direction. But moving forward, the Mustangs may have to play a few matches without their starting goalkeeper.
Freshman McKeely Tjaden went down with a shoulder injury Friday against Knoxville, but PCM still found a way to win despite losing a 3-1 lead with 25 minutes to play.
McKinzie Tjaden scored twice and Jessica Albright helped the Mustangs grab a two-goal lead in the second half, but PCM coach Bill Sowder was forced to use a starting position player in net and that allowed the host Panthers to force overtime.
In overtime, Aranda Woods won it with about 3 minutes to play. Albright delivered her team-leading fourth assist.
“McKeely dislocated her shoulder in the second half and my backup goalie was injured Monday,” Sowder said. “One of my captains Abby Waddell stepped up and played goalie for us and she made a fantastic save in overtime that allowed us to go down to the other end and win it.”
It was the 10th goal of the season for McKinzie Tjaden and the fifth scored by Albright.
Molley Kellas scored two goals for Knoxville, which beat Collins-Maxwell/Baxter, 4-0, on Thursday. Kelsey Colwell also scored a goal and Allyson VanderHart had six saves and took the loss in net. Kellas also scored two goals in the win over CMB and VanderHart had eight saves in getting the win in that one.
Last year, PCM went 4-14 and scored just 19 goals. The win over Knoxville pushed the Mustangs to 6-9 on the season and they have scored 30 goals on the year.
“I am pleased so far with how this season is going,” Sowder said. “We still have some games yet to play, but we are so much better than last year, there is no doubt about that. The progress has been good. We are going in the direction that I want to go.”
Next up for PCM is a home game with North Polk at 5:30 p.m. Friday.