The rain disappeared just in time for the Missouri Reign to take on Junction FC in front of a good home crowd excited to see another summer of local soccer. It is safe to say that the first half belonged to the Junction with the visiting side jumping to an early lead in the third minute with a goal by Addison Dae. The Junction tacked on another goal about a half-hour later with a goal by Rylann Law. The first half ended with the Reign down by two scores.

However, the half-time pep talk must have lit a fire in the Reign because the home side took over the second half. The Reign opened their season account with a goal in the 46^th minute by Holland Hawkins. From start of the second half, the Reign defense made life frustrating for the visitors. The high press by the Reign led to turnovers and counterattacks that resulted in quality chances at the offensive end. One of the best chances for an equalizer came in the 84^th minute off a free kick that put the ball perfectly in the Junction’s box through a confusion of bodies only to be knocked out of bounce just wide of the goal. 

When the end of the second half whistle blew, the Reign found themselves a goal short of a comeback they worked hard to achieve. There were a lot of positives despite the disappointing home result. The Reign were able to press the opposition and counterattack with speed. The speed of the ladies from Columbia had the visitors scrambling which led to mistakes by the opposition. Those mistakes led to scoring opportunities.

“Our whole entire squad responded exactly how we needed to,” said head coach Dakota Acock after the match. “It’s going to come down to us starting better. If we start better games, we’re going to be ok.” The ladies will try to do just that as they head to St. Louis, MO to take on the Missouri Rush Friday evening. The Missouri Rush are coming off a season opening loss on their own against Lou Fusz Athletic. Both teams will be eager to get their first win of the season. We’ll see if the ladies from Columbia can bounce back in the big way on Friday night.