The Vikings came out on a mission, but were stonewalled by Nixa’s goalkeeper in the first half - nine saves in the first half alone. The half ended 0-0. The breakthrough finally came in the 62nd minute when Will Griffin (senior) took a free kick from 40 yards out and put it right on Matt Beckett’s (senior) head. Matt sent the ball far post for beautiful goal, 1-0. Six minutes later Jared Moore (sophomore) collected a ball on the right wing, beat the defender, and crossed a ball into the middle of the box. An onrushing Matt Beckett (senior) volleyed the ball into the back of the net for his second of the night. A very nice buidup from the back of the field brought about the thrid goal. Jared Moore (sophomore) sent a ball into space for Tim Griffin (junior) who collected it and sent a fantastic ball across the face of the goal to Rudy Fotsch (junior) who finished with a rocket into the upper 90 from short range. The final score was 3-0. Nixa had 3 shots on goal to Parkview’s 15. The varsity is now 8-4 on the year.

The JV boys faced a solid Nixa team and friday night, but could not repeat the Varsity’s performance, falling 2-0 to Nixa. While the boys showed signs of their vast improvement over the past few weeks with some good possession and a well orchestrated attack at times, they ended up losing because of the same mistakes that haunted them early in the season: short spurts of defensive letdowns and unlucky finishing. While the boys played solid defense overall, the one or two mistakes they did make were just enough to hurt them, and although the offense had chances even in the last few minutes they weren’t quite able to put them away. The positives however are that the both the defensive mindset and the offensive buildup have come a long way already this season, so the boys will look to bounce back and continue to improve their intensity and smart play.

JV story by Joseph Florez, thanks Joseph