A corner kick provided Nixa the winning goal in the Lady Eagles’ regular-season win versus Kickapoo and coach Evan Palmer is hoping similar set pieces carry his team to the Class 4 District 5 championship.
Nixa (20-1) meets host Republic (17-6) in semifinal action Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“In the post-season, it gets even harder to score,” Palmer said. “Set pieces like corner kicks are important. Your team needs to be on the same page when it comes to corner kicks, both on the attack and when defending corners.”
Palmer’s players have executed well in-bounding the ball and receiving it on corner kicks during their 19-match winning streak.
“You have to work on the delivery of the ball and the timing of the runs the players are making in the box,” Palmer said. “You need to have players on the receiving end of the cross that will go hard to the ball and head the ball home. The players in the box must also be ready to improvise because it is hard for a corner to work according to plan every time so they must anticipate where the ball will go.
“The biggest points of emphasis when finding the ball is to head it back where it came from and head it down,” he added. “Our girls have done a great job of finding the ball and putting the shots on frame.”
Wednesday’s other semifinal will pit Kickapoo (19-6) and Glendale (15-7) at 7 p.m.
