STA Girls' Soccer 2023

  Game 12:  (9-2-1); EKL (3-1-1) 29 April vs. Divine Savior (4-1) 2023 STATS EKL Standings Early Saturday morning (9:45) the Saints wrapped up Nationals with a match against the top team out of Wisconsin, Divine Savior. The girls were coming off two 1-0 losses and one strong talent show. And the talent show won out, as the Saints rolled to a 4-1 win over a very good Divine Savior team—and the Saints cashed a corner. We got to see some great combination play from Sydney and Anisten. And even with Andi sitting out from yesterday's head shot, the defense did not allow much of anything. Savior scored off a long free kick, without much else in the form of attack for the entire match. They did generate 5 corners for the game. The Saints are back home next Tuesday to take on Bishop Miege and home for Senior Night against DeSoto on Thursday. We only have 4 matches left before post season.  STATS: First Half: Saints: Shots: 6 (4) Corners: 3 (Watts 2, O'Keefe) 33:51 Cabantac (Zink...

  Game 11:  (8-2-1); EKL (3-1-1) 28 April vs. Waukee Northwest (0-1) 2023 STATS EKL Standings Well the girls returned to Iowa to compete with some of the best teams in the US.  They opened against the top team in Iowa, Undefeated, Waukee Northwest (9-0-0) who promptly  lost for the first time Thursday at Nationals but came back to down us, 1-0. It had to be a tough loss for the girls who dominated the match. We earned 13 corners, 13!, but we did not score on any of them.  We gave up an early goal on a breakaway at the beginning of the second half. Somehow, that stood for the match. Northwest got only 4 shots off for the match, only 1 corner all game. We did lose Andi early in the match, so that did affect us a bit. I can’t see their goal happening with Andi in the match.  For this group to be shutout twice in two consecutive games is pretty much a mystery.  We have a lot of firepower. So hopefully we get things turned around tomorrow against Divin...

Game 10:  (8-1-1); EKL (3-1-1) 25 April vs. Blue Valley Northwest (0-1) 2023 STATS EKL Standings Saints will 6th until May 2 (Next Ranking Date) in United Soccer Coaches Poll   Region IV Rankings (Mo., Kan., Ark., Ok.)   The last time we played Blue Valley Northwest they had one loss, and were playing us in the championship of the Mo-Kan. We lead 3-0 at half, winning 4-1. The rematch was at SWI-DAC with an EKL result on the line, and Sydney back from National Camp. Northwest came in 4-4, yet to win an EKL match. But my did they show up tonight. And we, honestly, were not at our best tonight. It was Senior Night for Northwest, and that fact alone may have given them some extra juice.  They won the 50/50 ball competition by quite a bit.  The match was still 0-0 with a bit more than 20 to go, but then the Huskies picked up a corner kick—those are always opportunities to score. We did not get the ball cleared, and as it sat there on the ground in the box for a secon...

  Game 9:  (8-0-1); EKL (3-0-1) 21 April vs. Kapaun Mt. Carmel (4-1) 2023 STATS EKL Standings Saints still ranked 6th in the country in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll The girls traveled to Wichita for a varsity-only match against long-time West Bracket buddy, Kapaun Mt. Carmel. Kapuan entered the match only 4-6-0, but lately the Crusaders have up their schedule quite a bit, playing Kansas City teams. They even have a nice 1-0 win over Bishop McGuinness of Oklahoma City. Sydney missed her 3rd straight match as the Saints started the lineup we have gone with since her trip to National Team camp.   h The girls pretty much controlled the match from the start, leading 2-0 midway through the first half. We dominated the midfield with Anisten putting on quite a show with her touch and distribution skills. We did give up a goal off a corner right before the first half ended. We added a couple of nice second half goals to finish the match 4-1. Jane Hansen had moved to midfi...

  Game 8:  (7-0-1); EKL (3-0-1) 14 April vs. Ursuline Academy (3-2, 1OT) 2023 STATS EKL Standings Saints still ranked 6th in the country in the newest United Soccer Coaches Poll We reached the halfway point tonight with our match against one of St. Louis' best, Ursuline Academy.  They came in around .500, but on a nice two-game winning streak including a win over state-champion favorite, St. Dominic's. And they came in with 2 days of rest. That rest did not look as if it mattered early on as we came out dominant, leading 2-0 after only 4 minutes. We kept that up for about 15 minutes and then seemed to hit a wall—and my did things shift. Ursuline took over for the rest of the half, but they only knocked one in, so we lead 2-1 at half. And throughout most of the match, Coach got a lot of players their first varsity minutes at Saint Thomas Aquinas.  Those girls (Flynn, DiCarlo, Minnis, Eischen) allowed quite a few starters to get some needed bench time.  Hesser, Wh...

  Game 7:  (6-0-1); EKL (3-0-1) 13 April vs. Blue Valley Southwest (2-2, 2 OT's) 2023 STATS EKL Standings Saints still ranked 6th in the country in the newest United Soccer Coaches Poll We took on undefeated Blue Valley Southwest (7-0-0) in our first match of three without our leading scorer, Sydney Watts.  Coach Brown simply moved Marn to the "9," adding Holton wide for her—so just a minor tweak to our normal starting lineup. The Saints played against a bit of the wind first half, and somehow we exited the half tied at zero. The first half stats told a much different story as Southwest dominated the half pretty badly. But the Saints played with so much more energy and urgency in the second half, and through two overtimes, as well.  Statistically we were not great, but we came much closer to 50/50 possession time with Southwest, and we were just gutsy.  We scored two great goals, and the second one came with us down 2-1 with only 17 seconds left in the match. Th...

  Game 6:  (6-0); EKL (3-0-0) 11 April vs. Blue Valley West (1-0) 2023 STATS EKL Standings Saints still ranked 6th in the country in the newest United Soccer Coaches Poll We began a very tough week against the Metro Poll's number one team, Blue Valley West. The Jags came in, also 5-0, and 3-0-0 in the EKL.  Coach Brown has been very consistent with this starting line-up, but after tonight, we will be missing Watts for three straight matches. But we had her tonight. And that was enough for the fairly early game-winning goal in our 1-0 win. We played a bit as if we just got back from Easter Break. But West probably had a bit to do with that, but overall we passed a lot of balls to the wrong team. So we were not particularly sharp, and not really in character.  And West threw the deep sweeper (as my brother calls a "cheat code in high school girls' soccer") at us, a tactic that we had trouble against although we did put a couple of great attacks back-to-back in the fina...

  Game 5:  (5-0-0); EKL (2-0-0) 4 April vs. St. James Academy (3-1) 2023 STATS Saints ranked 6th in the country in the United Soccer Coaches Poll Pregame was filled with lots of shades of pinks: St. James numbers on their dark jerseys, Saints socks, tied balloons throughout the stadium, at raffle ticket tables, and a chunk of to-be-released-balloons that were shared with St. James players to be freed jointly and symbolically following the prayer and dedication. St. James came in for, yet another, PinkOut, as the only 6-0-0 team in the state of Kansas with some big-time wins over St. Dominic (St. Louis), Jenks (OK), and BV Northwest (4-0). And they lived up to their billing. It was just a great Aquinas victory tonight, just some very clutch plays late in the match. After that first half, I am sure we had some doubt in the stands.  In that first half, against the wind, St. James had outshot us, out possessed us and were tied with us. The second half they we would ...