The Wright City Lady Wildcat soccer team took strides in the second half of their season opening loss to St. Clair. 

Wright City (1-1) fell to St. Clair 7-0 in their season opener last week. First-year coach Jacob Wallace thought the Lady Wildcats played much better in the second half of the opener. 

“I told them in the first half, it seemed like we were a step slow to every single ball that we had,” Wallace said. “The second half, they looked a little more aggressive on the defensive end.” 

Wright City only surrendered one goal in the first 22 minutes of the first half despite playing most of the half on their own end of the field. St. Clair took control of the game with three goals in a five minute span in the first half. 

St. Clair added three more goals in the second half. The Lady Wildcats prevented an eighth goal to play the full 80 minutes. 

“I was super proud of the girls,” Wallace said. “The girls on the defensive end, the way they fought the entire time. The girls in the midfield working up, working back. Even our forwards were working hard for us to get back and help us out. I really just appreciated the effort all the way around.”

Wallace said after last week’s season opener, the Lady Wildcats were still seeing which players fit best in what spots on the pitch. They are focusing on maximizing opportunities for players who can attack on the offensive end while also balancing not tiring out the players throughout the game. Wallace stressed the Lady Wildcats still need to work on increasing their fitness levels. 

“There’s a lot of us that still need to work on our fitness for sure,” Wallace said. “That will be something that we are addressing tomorrow for sure and we will continue to address throughout the year.”

Wright City rebounded Monday with a convincing 8-0 win over Valley Park to even their record on the season. Wright City scored six first half goals in the win. 

Wright City is slated to host the St. Louis Patriots Thursday. They will host Owensville Monday.