NEOSHO, Mo — The Missouri prep soccer playoffs don't start for another month, but Tuesday night's matchup between Carthage and Neosho certainly had a postseason feel to it.
The two rivals provided a brief preview of potentially another great matchup come district time.
But in a hard-fought game, Neosho handed Carthage its first loss of the season in a 2-0 shutout behind a pair of goals from midfielder Carlos Estrada and a stifling defense.
"We talk to our guys like, 'Just get ready because it's going to be a playoff game,'" Neosho coach James Carter said. "It was that kind of atmosphere against that quality of an opponent. It's great for us to get this in the middle of the year because it gives us a good barometer of where we are at.
"As we look forward to the playoffs, it's important for us."
Carthage coach Jacob Osborne said Neosho simply outplayed his team, specifically in the second half.
"I thought in the first half we were a little bit better than them and we were very unlucky with the halftime score being down 1-0," Osborne said. "I didn't think that represented how the game went and how the chances went. But then in the second half, they outplayed us, plain and simple as that.
"They took it up a couple of notches in their play. We lacked composure and played way too direct."
Estrada's first goal came in the 27th minute of the first half when he snuck the ball past a diving Carthage goalkeeper Inmer Hernandez. His second goal came in the 65th minute when he had the Tigers' keeper one-on-one on the left side of the field and promptly blasted the ball through the net.
And that was the dagger for the Wildcats.
In the opening half, both teams flexed their defensive muscle. They went scoreless through the first 20 minutes, trading five shots apiece over that span.
The Tigers got their best opportunity of the game to score in the 11th minute. On a kick after a foul against the Tigers, defender Luis Mejia hit forward Marco Valdez, who blasted the ball past goalkeeper Kayden Wood for the score.
But the goal was called back because of an offside call on Valdez. From there, Carthage's offense, which entered the night averaging nearly four goals per game, was shut down by Neosho's aggressive defense.
And that was also a byproduct of the Wildcats controlling possession of the ball throughout most of the game.
Osborne said he was impressed by Neosho's midfielders, who "controlled the game" and proved to "win a lot of balls before we even had a chance to get up the field."
Next up, Neosho goes to McDonald County (6-3) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Carthage looks to get back in the win column as it hosts Springfield Central (0-6) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Central has missed the past two weeks of games because of COVID-19 issues, so the game remains up in the air.