Donjuan posts hat trick for Republic soccer in shutout win over Parkview

Searching for offense after an early-season scoring drought, Republic soccer coach Kevin Hauck decided to shake things up. Hauck moved midfielder Marco Donjuan and defender Jackson McGuire to the front line to generate an offensive spark, and it paid off with a 3-0 win over Parkview in Springfield Thursday. Donjuan scored all three goals – his first career hat trick – and McGuire assisted on two of those goals. Jabali Wanekya also had an assist for the Tigers.
“We’ve had a great de- fense. Jackson’s been great back there for us, but he gives us really good scoring opportunities, and so does Marco,” said Hauck. “So we flipped the script a little bit and pushed Marco and Jackson up top hoping to get a little bit more offensively.”
Donjuan said being at
forward allowed him to “find chances to score and get some shots on goal, and also get some crosses in to my teammates.”
The Tigers followed up their Thursday win with two wins in three games at a tournament in Rolla. The Tigers beat Poplar Bluff 4-1 and lost to Rolla 3-1 on Friday, then rebounded to beat Capital City, the new Jef- ferson City high school, on Saturday. Republic finished second in the tournament.
Lady Tigers split COC tennis matches
Two days after dropping their first conference match at Willard, Republic’s tennis team rebounded with a win at Joplin Thursday, 6-3. The strength of Republic’s lineup one- through-six was the key to the night.
Joplin’s three wins all came in close matches at the top of the lineup. At #1
doubles, Elsie Crawford and Carly McAtee lost 8-5. Katie Stiles and Hannah Morgan teamed to win their doubles match 8-2, and Abby Mc- Cord and Jasmine Howard flew past their competition 8-0 in the #3 doubles match.
In singles, Joplin’s Astrid Cardenas slipped by Crawford 8-6 in the #1 spot. The Eagles’ Emma Watts edged Stiles in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-4).
The rest of the singles matches went to Republic. McAtee and McCord each one 8-2 at the #3 and #4 slots. Morgan swept her match 8-0, and Howard won 8-4.
Republic improves to 6-2 overall. The Lady Tigers are 6-1 in the Central Ozark Conference.