6 June 2009
Lady Irish Defeat St. Pius X Finish 3rd in State
Posted by soccermom under: Girls News .
The Catholic girls rebounded following a difficult semifinal defeat to down St. Pius X of Kansas City 4-0 to capture 3rd place in Class 1. All 22 available girls played and made significant contributions to the win. Andrea Parker notched the first goal for the Irish in the 19th minute when she knocked in a cross from Maddy Renner. Catholic had several more good chances in the first half, including a strong shot by Courtney Devlin that hit the cross bar, but were unable to extend the lead. After a slow first five minutes of the second half that saw a couple of decent chances for St. Pius, the Irish took control of the game. Anna DeLong played the most intense game of the season in her final match for Catholic and it was her strong run in the 53rd minute that turned a close match in the favor of the Lady Irish. Anna powered her way into the penalty area on the left and hit a strong shot off the cross bar that rebounded to Shelby Hatz who slotted the ball nicely inside the right post. Shelby put the game away three minutes later when she took a pass from Maddy and buried the ball into the right post side netting. Natalie Smid finished the scoring in the 70th minute when she struck a solid shot under the bar from 15 yards after taking a pass from Bekah Bade. The play was set up by Emily Kessler who won a battle just outside the penalty area which began the sequence leading to the goal. The defense held up during the match as Carsen Baron, Rebecca Mayus, Erin FitzGerald, Kathleen Garrison, Connor Guy, Jessica Bowman, and Emily Loethen kept the St. Pius attack in check limiting them to ten shots, none of which were particularly dangerous. Rachel Scott and Megan Goetzinger combined for the shutout in goal for the Lady Irish. In addition to the midfield starters, Rachel Herron, Courtney Devlin, Emily Ortega, Jordan Banasik, and Whitney Lucas contributed solid minutes off the bench.
This was the final match for Lady Irish seniors, Anna DeLong, Kathleen Garrison, Emily Kessler, and Maddy Renner. All four girls have made major contributions to Lady Irish soccer during their four years in the program. Thank you girls for all you have done…….you will be fondly remembered!
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