Decatur coach walks out on players, team responds with three goals for draw

Published 5:00 pm Friday, October 7, 2016

Decatur girls soccer coach Jim Hager couldn’t take it anymore.

His team hasn’t won a game in over a year, and his players have resorted to bickering during games.

So with the Golden Gators down three goals at halftime Friday, Hager did the only thing left to do: He scanned the room, looking at each player, and told them they were terrible.

Then Hager walked out of the locker room without saying another word.

The shock tactic worked. Decatur’s demeanor and tempo completely changed, and it responded with three second-half goals to draw 3-3 with the Auburn Trojans at Memorial Stadium.

“I told them they were bottom of the barrel right now,” Hager said of the halftime exchange. “And I left the room. They had to figure it out. They knew what I wanted. They needed to figure it out. I left the room, let them have halftime to themselves, and it showed in the second half.”

The Golden Gators had numerous chances to grab the lead within the first two minutes of the game, the Golden Gator midfield sent a nice through ball into the box and forward Aubrey Smith got a shot on goal, but the ball went wide left.

Minutes later, Decatur paid for its defensive miscommunication as it turned the ball over and Auburn forward Emma Oehler connected on an unassisted strike from 17 yards out to give the Trojans the 1-0 lead.

With the frustration of the Golden Gators back line building, Auburn took advantage.

Decatur gave away another costly turnover in the 12th minute, and midfielder HaileySue Hunsaker took the ball down field for a 40-yard breakaway, firing in the Trojans’ second goal from 15 yards out.

Oehler concluded Auburn’s dominant first half with her second goal of the game in the 27th minute, giving Auburn the 3-0 lead.

“We were just all over the place,” Decatur forward Hannah Shires said. “We were getting mad at each other instead of them. Coach was really mad. He just walked out. It was good because our older players stood up and said we couldn’t finish like this. We had to be better. We were better than that.”

Decatur proved to be just that in the second half: the better team. And it was the birthday girl, Shires, who put the team on her back to close out the game.

When the second half started, everything was different: The Gators’ attitude, communication and camaraderie were all present.

Decatur had the ball deep in the Auburn half in the 49th minute. Shires found the ball at her feet inside 5 yards and the junior dribbled past two defenders and put the ball in the net.

The Gators pressured offensively again 18 minutes later, and they were rewarded with a corner kick in the 67th minute. The corner rattled around between both teams, but Jenna Bettge was able to get her foot on the ball and put it past the Trojans’ goalkeeper, cutting Auburn’s lead to 3-2.

“They came out, started to learn to play together again and really took it to them,” Hager said. “I thought we really outplayed them and showed our true colors.”

A minute later, it was Shires bringing the game to a draw with a little bit of rewarding karma.

Just as Decatur fell victim to a first half breakaway goal, the Gators got their redemption. The Trojans turned the ball over near midfield, and Shires went 45 yards on the breakaway for the equalizer.

“We had plenty of time, we just had to make sure we stayed calm,” Shires said. “I was able to make a good tackle and I had no one in front me and was able to get the ball in net.”

In all, it was a glorious afternoon for both Decatur soccer and for Shires.

The Gators avoided a 0-6 start to the season with Shires’ late-game heroics, and Shires celebrated her birthday with a two-goal game and surprise cupcakes from her teammates. She also got asked to homecoming.

Hager said he hopes the celebratory, team-bonding vibes of the afternoon translate to the rest of the season so no further drastic measures have to be taken.

“Difference was, they had a team playing and we had individuals playing in that first half,” Hager said. “We did not play together. We did not come to play together. Second half we started playing together, getting the ball to one another.

“That’s when good things started happening. Hopefully that continues so that I don’t have to have another halftime like this one.”