This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Pattonville Girls Take District Soccer Crown

Incarnate Word next up after 2-1 win over Hazelwood West Thursday.

FLORISSANT -- With a pair of conference rivals butting heads and a Class 3 District 6 title on the line, it's no wonder that the match between and Hazelwood West would come down to the wire.

Both coaches expected it. Both teams' players expected it.

And in the end, it was Pattonville's game-breaker that wound up being the difference-maker.

Find out what's happening in Creve Coeurwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Junior Kailey Utley netted a pair of goals, including the game-winner early in the first half, as the Pirates held off the Suburban North Conference rival Wildcats 2-1, Thursday evening at McCluer North.

The Pirates (16-9) advance to Tuesday's state quarterfinal match against Incarnate Word Academy (13-5-1). Hazelwood West ends its season at 14-11.

Find out what's happening in Creve Coeurwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Utley, who added to her school record with 34 goals on the season, scored off a corner kick 7 minutes, 42 seconds into the match to tie the game and then beat a Wildcat defender and goalkeeper Alex Linck to a ball played into the box and chipped a shot over Linck at the 19:10 mark for a 2-1 lead.

Neither team could penetrate the other's goal the rest of the way and the Pirates squad, the state runner-up a season ago and third in 2009, would walk away district champs in the end.

"We both kind of knew that it was going to be a tight contest," said Pattonville coach Tom Iffrig, referring to West coach Jason Sellers.

"Over the last few years it's been back and forth. They win, we win. They win, we win," said Sellers, whose squad fell at Pattonville 4-2 on April 21. "I figured it would be a close game. I didn't think it would be a blowout one way or another."

And it certainly wasn't.

The Wildcats, the No. 2 seed in the district, couldn't have gotten off to a better start when junior Jenn Morris converted a broken play just 1:01 into the match to give Hazelwood West a 1-0 lead.

Morris found herself all alone along the left side of the penalty box, and her initial shot was stopped by Pirates keeper Kayla Benoit. But the ball caromed high into the air, off Benoit's hands and into the net.

"Throughout this year, we've given up 14 goals in the first three minutes of a half, either the beginning of a game or (start of the second half)," Sellers said. "That's the first time we've scored one that quick. I thought maybe that was a good sign."

Immediately after the goal, Iffrig made sure his players remained composed.

"Just an unfortunate mistake back there," Iffrig said. "Kayla made the first save and it came down. I think she thought it was going to hit the cross bar. It would have bounced forward instead of straight down.

"It was just a bad break. We've been through that before. The girls have been through it. They knew how to respond and they did right away."

Utley, who's already committed to West Virginia when she graduates in 2012, curled a corner kick into a swirling wind and it somehow found its way into the goal to tie the score 1-1 at the 7:42 mark.

"I was just trying to get it in the six-yard box," said Utley, who scored three times and assisted on one other in the teams' first meeting. "When it went in, I was happy about that."

The Wildcats made a point to shadow Utley on the pitch and for the most part, limited the striker's chances. But Utley streaked down the middle of the field and touched Erin Collier's bouncing pass past two would-be Wildcat defenders, including Linck.

"She played a perfect through-ball and I just tried to get on it," Utley said of Collier. "The goalie and the defender were both coming at it and I was just trying to get a touch on it. Luckily it went in.

"It was going to be a three-way tie, so I just needed to get some kind of touch on it."

Iffrig called them timely goals.

"She took care of that corner and swinging it in there," he said. "The second goal ... just sheer desire to get to that ball before the keeper. Phenomenal finish."

Just like that, three goals were scored less than 20 minutes into the match. But things would change the rest of the way. But not without some good scoring chances.

The Wildcats missed two glorious opportunities with five minutes left in the first half to tie on chances by Morris and Mariah Gove.

"I think that one ball rolled through two of our players," Sellers said. "All we have to do is get a little bit on it and it's going in the goal. I even thought they might knock it in during the scramble."

Utley had a chance to seal the win after she was hauled down in the box, but her penalty kick fluttered wide left with 29:10 remaining. The Pirates were determined to buckle down the rest of the way.

"After we got up, we were trying to play more defensive," Utley said, who was moved back from her striker position to help defensively.

"We tried to keep our shape for as long as we could," Iffrig said. "Obviously the last 10 minutes, we pretty much went into a shell. I even dropped Kailey back. We did what we needed to do in the last five, 10 minutes."

Sellers saw that and threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Pattonville back four.

"I think they were almost letting us come at them a little bit and they were driving the ball out," Sellers said. "We were trying to take advantage of that. It seemed to did a good job up until that offensive third and it would break down there.

"I thought we'd do enough to get that one goal, but soccer's a cruel sport sometimes. It doesn't shake out that way."

And for two communities that were hit by the Good Friday tornadoes, particularly the Pattonville contingency, a prolonged playoff run would be comforting.

"It's unbelievable, especially after the girls we lost last year," Iffrig said, naming off Tiffany Laughlin, Casey Vitate and Sam Zoltanski. "... For this group to come back and do this is really special."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Creve Coeur