Fort Zumwalt South’s girl soccer team achieved the three-peat over the weekend as they won the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 3 title while the Clayton girls’ team brought home the state title in soccer for the first time in school history.
Let’s get caught up on another outstanding showing by our local teams in this week’s edition of the Monday Morning Wrap-Up sponsored by Triad Bank.
Fort Zumwalt South joined an elite group of teams by winning their third straight Class 3 title with a 2-1 win over Smithville Saturday at the World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton. The Bulldogs advanced to the championship game with a 2-0 win over Ursuline Academy in the semifinals. In that contest, Fort Zumwalt South struck first in the 4th minute as Brooke Cattoor was credited with a goal after an Ursuline defender misplayed a header in the 6-yard box that fell into the goal to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Zumwalt South added to the lead in the 12th minute as Audrey Smith converted a penalty kick after a Bear foul in the box to make the score 2-0. That is all the Bulldogs would need as goalkeeper Allison Moore had 10 saves on the day to earn the clean sheet and push Zumwalt South to the title match.
In the Championship game, the Bulldogs once again scored first in the 13th minute of play as Isabel Montilone took a pass from Cattoor and buried a shot from the top of the box into the upper left corner of the goal to give Zumwalt South a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs extended the lead in the 26th minute as Audrey Smith collected a give-and-go pass from Ashely Miller and slotted a shot into the lower left side of the goal to put Zumwalt South ahead 2-0. The Warriors cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal in the 34th minute to make the score 2-1, but the Bulldogs’ defense limited Smithville to just four shots over the last 40 minutes of play to earn their third consecutive state title. The Bulldogs finished the season with a record of 22-4. In the third-place contest, Ursuline scored a pair of goals in each half to claim the third-place trophy with a 4-0 win over Union.
Clayton made the most of their first-ever trip to the state final four as the Greyhounds needed to work overtime for the second consecutive match to claim the Class 2 title with a 3-2 victory over St. Pius X out of Kansas City. In the semifinals, Clayton outlasted defending state champion Whitfield in penalty kicks 3-2 and 4-3 in PKs. The Warriors raced out to an early 2-0 lead after Perry Rogan and Ella Rogan each scored in the first 12 minutes of the contest to put Whitfield on top. The Greyhounds started their comeback as Rachel Van Rhein scored the first of her two goals in the 26th minute on a penalty kick to cut the Whitfield advantage to 2-1. Van Rhein struck again in the 52nd minute as she took a cross from Lucia Melander and found the net to even the score at 2-2. That is how the match stayed through the final 58 minutes as the teams went to the dot. With the teams going to the seventh round of penalty kicks tied at 3-3, Annabelle Kujawa sent the Greyhounds to the championship match with a shot that made it past the Warriors goalkeeper to give Clayton the win.
The championship match was a back-and-forth affair as Clayton took the early lead in the 12th minute as Stella Whitney scored from 16 yards out to put the Greyhounds ahead 1-0. The Warriors answered two minutes later with a goal to even the contest at 1-1 and then took the lead in the 70th minute to push ahead 2-1. Anna McAndrew drew the Greyhounds even in the 76th minute as she buried a free kick from 30 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal to make the score 2-2. McAndrew gave the Greyhounds the win in the 93rd minute as she took a pass from Whitney and curled a shot from the top of the box into the upper left corner of the goal to give the Greyhounds their first state girls soccer title as they finished the year with a record of 13-10. In the third-place contest, Whitfield grabbed control of the match early on with four first-half goals and cruised to a 6-2 victory over Pheasant Hill.
Photo Credit – Missouri State High School Activities Association
It was a match for the ages in the Class 4 title game as Nerinx Hall and Liberty North put on a show under the lights as a Markers’ late comeback fell just short as the Eagles won the title with a 4-3 win in overtime. Nerinx Hall advanced to the title match with a convincing 4-1 win over Lafayette Friday afternoon as the Markers scored four second-half goals to claim the win. Emma Gianino scored the first of her two goals just as the second half began to put the Markers on top 1-0 only to see Alexandria Kinner tie the match just 17 seconds later as she scored on a shot from 6 yards out to make the score 1-1. The Markers then scored three times in a span of eight minutes as Gianino added her second goal of the game while Ella McAleenan and Nina Preusser added goals to help Nerinx Hall to their third straight title match.
The Markers drew first blood in the championship match as McAleenan scored on a well-placed header off a corner kick from Lauren Seppi in the 14th minute to put Nerinx Hall in front 1-0. The Eagles then exploded for three goals over the 26 minutes with their final goal coming with one second remaining in the half to take a 3-1 lead into the break. The Markers started their second-half rally in the 50th minute as an Ava Kutz header found the goal off of another Seppi corner kick to cut the Eagles’ lead to 3-2. Haylee Braun tied the match in the 54th minute as she collected a pass from Seppi and scored from 5 yards out to push the score to 3-3 as that is how the teams would finish after 80 minutes. The teams both had equal opportunities in the overtime, but it was Liberty North that would break through in the 95th minute as they scored with 23 seconds left on the clock to give them the victory. The Markers ended the season with an outstanding 19-3-1 record. In the third-place contest, Lafayette grabbed an early lead and never looked back as the Lancers defeated Kickapoo 4-1 to earn the trophy.
Villa Duchesne saw their outstanding season come to a close as the Saints fell to Father Tolton 1-0 in the Class 1 final. The Saints advanced to the championship game with a 4-0 victory over Saxony Lutheran in the semifinals. Villa scored three times in the first half as Georgia Leary connected on a pair of penalty kicks and Ellery Miller scored on a blast from 18-yards out to put the Saints ahead 3-0 at the half. Miller scored her second goal of the match off a breakaway in the 50th minute to give the Saints a 4-0 lead as the Villa defense did not allow a shot by the Crusaders in the final 40 minutes.
The championship match saw a pair of evenly matched teams square off as neither squad was able to score in the first 40 minutes. Tolton broke through for the game’s only goal in the 58th minute to take a 1-0 lead and that would be enough as the Saints did have many chances to score only to be turned away by the Trailblazers. Villa Duchesne finished their campaign with a record of 10-12-1.
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan
