TOC FINALS!

Game 13: for the TOC title vs Granite City out of St. Louis (0-2)

Well, admittedly we were not in as good of shape as they were as they maybe subbed twice a half, going mostly with the first 11 all game—and they had already played a couple of games as well. 

And we did not finish our few chances we did have, but I am sure the video will corroborate two things 1) the corner they scored the first goal on was not a corner (confirmed in video) 2) their second goal did not cross the goal line (well, as you will see our video does not catch the moment, so I am wrong there). 

So, we could be in a shootout right now. Obviously, we did not defend the corner well, clearing it back through the middle weakly to set up the nice shot. 

It is nice to see a team connect a couple of passes and then change the point of attack with a bigger ball. Granite City did it well most of the game. How good was their #3?

Our girls had a very good weekend, not only soccer-wise, but they got some bonding in that will make us better the rest of the way. 

The BWhite player of the Match was Kyli Jackson. We can’t just look at this match, where she was our best player, but her play throughout the tournament—she was great. 

We can only control what we can control, and we did pretty darn well doing that—I thought we had a very good weekend. 

We now stand *7-6-0. 

STATS: 

First Half

Saints: Shots: 3 (1). Corners: 4 (Kanye 2, Cox, Ram)

GC: Shots 1 (1) Corners: 0

Second Half: 

Saints: Shots: 2(1) Corners: 0

GC:  Shots 4 (3) Corners: 3

31:36 Left  Dutko (corner cleared to the middle of 18)

23:56 Left: Nekdhardt (ball crossed across the box skimming off the front post with center official signally goal—video doesn't catch the moment)

TOC semi-finals

Game 12: in Burlington at 9:30 in TOC SEMIS vs. Normal West (2-1)

The semis became a surprise matchup as Normal West knocked off the #5 team in the country, Akeney Centennial, 1-0 in round one. 

And Normal West is athletic and fast with some nice soccer skill. They were great competition. We had a lot of good opportunities first half that we did not finish. So, when they got it tied 1-1 midway through the second half, the game was on. 

The game-winner game directly off a Kyli Jackson goal kick to Grace—wow. 

The BWhite Player of the Match went Co—Grace O’Keefe once again as she got off 7 shots herself, four on target, two for goals. And then Emily Nielsen moved to the 10 (a coach Elf suggestion!).  We are guessing those were her first minutes ever at that spot. But the game changed. She was so active, winning balls moving the team forward. She had an assist, a T-ball, a shot on goal. But it really was defensive pressure that made her a star there today. 

Coach Hammons named Emily, #cardtrick, his “Hero” of the match. 

We have to give a shout-out to our defense. They battled. Jackson and Goza all game with Ram and Muck getting some relief from Holton. And we can’t forget Hamm at defensive center midfield. 

Huge shoutout to Libby too as she came in cold to squelch Normal’s best opportunity of the match. 

We will take on Granite City for the title 1:30. 

We now stand *7-5-0. 

STATS: 

First Half:

Saints:  Shots: 7 (4) Corners: 1 (Assa)

NW:  Shots 1(1). Corners: 0

Second Half:  

Saints:  Shots: 7 (3). Corners: 2 (Grace, Muckerman)

23:34 left O’Keefe (Nielsen)

7:30 left: O’Keefe (Jackson off the goal kick)

NW:  Shots 2 (2). Corners. 0

17:76 left: Own Goal

Opening Round of Tournament of Champions

Game 11: at TOC vs. St. Francis (Wheaton) at 3:15 (4-1)

Well, the tourney began on a great note as our girls jumped out to a 3 goal halftime lead. We made it stand with a 4-1 finish, Grace O'Keefe doffing her first hat of the year. She was the BWhite Player of the Match.

B gave a huge shoutout to Taylor James for a very nice save she made in the first half to save a goal. 

Ella Gregovich got her first varsity minutes today as well. She showed well at that wing forward position, creating a corner and offering up a lot of activity on both sides of the ball.

We played all 23 girls some substantial minutes. Hopefully, that pays off well for our semifinal match in the morning.  Akeney Central was upset by Normal out of Illinois. So, we will not see the #5 team in the country as we had expected.

After 5 and a half hours on a bus, the girls really gave a pretty darn good performance.

We now stand 6-5-0.

The Drake. And. 


Talent show tonight!

Solo Act Winner: Emily Nielsen: Card Trick
3rd Place: Del Pop, Grego, Holten: Justin Bieber
2nd Place: Sophomores: Poetry Month
First: Bryson, Jackson, and Ramaekers: American Idol

STATS:  First Half

Saints: Shots 8 (3). Corners: 4 (Cox 2, Hamm, Gregovich)

32:02 O’Keefe (Mia pops it forward)

25:54 O’Keefe (No explaining this one)

3:00 Cox (Cox taken down in the box for PK)

Francis: Shots: 1(1). Corners: 1

Second Half:

Saints: Shots: 3 (2) Corners:  (Ram, Cox)

16:22 O'Keefe (Assa T'ball)

St. Francis: Shots: 4 (2) Corners: 0

11:50 Rittenhouse (She picks our centerback)

Saints Off the Schneid in the EKL

Game 10: 23 June at Home vs. Mill Valley (4-1)

Coming off Easter Break, I thought we had some real juice in our step at practice yesterday.  We carried that energy over to tonight to post one of our top matches of the season.

And it was fun to see so many girls have nice games.  Assa Kante recorded her first varsity goal. Grace O'Keefe continued to show she's as good as anyone around. Patti Ehrnman defined courage for Coach Hammons.

BWhite name Kyli Jackson BWhite Player of the Match and not just because of impeccable play again tonight but because of her continued leadership both on and off the field for this team. I tip my hat to her as well!

B gave a big shoutout to Grace O'Keefe, though!

Elf asked for a clean sheet in the second half, and, no we did not keep it clean, but we did defend pretty solidly.  We gave up a free kick (we are trying to be more aware of where we are on the field, and thus . . .) that gave them a dangerous deadball the Jags nicely cashed. The stat guys had that as their only shot all game. That's remarkable defense even if it's off a couple.

We have been playing a lot better than our results. Hopefully, tonight becomes a big step in improving those results.

We head for Iowa this weekend to compete in the top national tournament in the spring, The Tournament of Champions. We now have something to build on.

We are now 5-5 for the season.

STATS:

First Half:  

Saints:  Shots: 6 (4)   Corners: 0 

37:57 Kante (Cox earns the deadball)

14:59 O'Keefe (Bryson finds Grace's feet)

4:24 O'Keefe (Cox wins the 50-5o to Grace)

Mill Valley:  Shots: 0 (0) Corners: 1

Second Half:

Saints: Shots: 9 (5) Corners: 3 (Cox, Ramaekers, Holton)

7:36 Ehrnman (Assa drops it to Patti)

Closing Build

Jags:  Shots: 1 (1) Corners: 1

17:00 Colletti (Direct free kick from 22)

Saints take on #14 Mustangs

17 April vs. BV North at STA (1-2)

Game 9:

Wow, we played pretty darn well tonight—7 shots on goal to 2. We scored first against the #14 team in the country but, somehow, gave up two goals during the last five minutes of the first half.  Both plays came off counters, probably North's top strength, outside of their centerbacks and keeper.

But hey, the first was an own goal, and the second was another very (I need one more very) questionable PK call against us. So, it's not like North actually scored a goal.  

Overall, we liked the way the girls played tonight. Obviously, we are still not generating enough offense, but North has two of the best centerbacks in the city and one of the top keepers—so we probably weren't scoring much.  

We should have made 1-0 stand.

The find of the night was Katie Muckerman who logged her first minutes at left back.  She was so aggressive, challenging everything. And she found feet out of the back over and over again. And once she found herself at the slot in the box shooting off a t-ball. BWhite named her the BWhite Player of the Match.

Also, Taylor James is playing so well, and she is not getting much to show for it. Look at this evening, she gives up no goals but gives up two.  She reads those PK's so well. If the ball is not struck perfectly, she has it. We have a huge shoutout to her! 

North has some nice pieces, runs a nice counterattack, and can place a strong lineup throughout . . . so they should win some games this year. We wish them luck and continued success. Go EKL!

On to Mill Valley and then the national tourney.  I am looking forward to next week.

We are now 4-5-0.

STATS.

First Half:

Saints:  Shots: 3 (3) Corners: 3 (Grace, Assa, Nielsen)

35:46 O'Keefe (Assa pops it forward for the half-volley)

Mustangs: Shots: 2 (0) Corners: 0

5:41 Own Goal (we rush across to clear the cross to catch an unlucky hit)

2:53 Farrington (we are called for a PK that the Stangs convert)

Second Half:

Saints: Shots 5 (4) Corners: 1 (Del Popolo)

Stangs: Shots 2 (0) Corners: 2

PinkOut 2019

11 April: Thunder at STA for Pinkout (1-2 OT)

Game 8, Midseason

BWhite and his parent group worked so hard decorating the field, finding prizes for the raffles, getting us uniforms (and I just loved the idea of all of us putting someone's name on our back involved in the battle with cancer), and creating that famous walkout (Here is the walk-in!)—all the things that make this night so special, and honestly, we laid an egg. 

I, however, loved the enthusiasm and energy we started the game with.  We almost scored on the kickoff as Grace found Assa who took a couple of touches before putting one on the back post. It looked as if we, perhaps, should have scored as it came back out as well.

We pretty much controlled that first half against a strong wind.  With about 12 left, we cashed our lone corner of the half on a great service, header, and a frame. We should have been going into the second half with a 1-0 lead, about to get the wind.  But as BWhite says "we are our own worst enemy." With little time left in the half, we fouled them in the box, giving them a PK with nine seconds left, nine. So the half ended 1-1.

I expected us to create quite a few chances with the wind in the second half.  Granted the wind went sideways—always a possibility in Kansas, but still, we were in better shape with the conditions in the second half than we were in the first. But I would say St. James won the middle of the field and Thornhill ate us up on the outside of the field as she fed the box with her crosses. And we didn't create much of anything.

So there we were in overtime again, once again gassed.  We gave up a tired goal. Thornhill had put another ball into the box, but we miscleared it to set up the finish, a clean header.  

St. James outplayed us all second half, and throughout the overtime.

Kate Goza was the BWhite Player of the Match. It would be hard to find any of our players who scored out at 10 out of 10 for the match, but Kate was the closest, and she played the entire match once again.  Grace was pretty good as well.

We have had a couple of tough results these last two matches.  We need to take BWhite's advice not to be our own worst enemy. 

But St. James arrived for this one to give us a great match.  They will take home the PinkOut cup for the first time, I believe.  But they certainly deserve it.

We might see them again in playoffs, but the way playoffs have been working lately, we may not. We certainly did not help ourselves at all for postseason tonight.

We need to revisit the chemistry lab, as we thought we had found something there during the second half of the Kapaun game, but we still don't have the right mix to create enough chances offensively.

We stand 4-3-1 at the halfway point.  We will have a tough game in BV North next.

Addendum: the KSHSAA has ruled that we forfeit the Divine Savior game as it stands as a violation of the “500” mile rule. 

So we now stand 4-4-0 at midseason. 

STATS:

First Half:

Saints: Shots: 3 (2) Corners (Nielsen)

11:45 Jackson (Grace bends in the corner for a Ram header to Kyli's feet)

Thunder: Shots: 3 (3) Corners: 1

0:09 Thornhill (PK) 

Second Half and OT:

Saints: Shots: Shots: 4 (2) Corners: 3 (Cox 2, Kante)

Thunder: Shots: 2 (1) Overtime 3 (3)  Corners: 2

5:45 OT Zndarsic (we misclear the ball setting up the header)

Day 2 of the Catholic Challenge

6 April Prom Saturday at STA vs. Divine Savior of Milwaukee (1-1 2 OT's)

Game 7

We had a little trouble rounding up enough bodies for an entire game. We got Kyli back but still had Ram and Muckerman out and O'Keefe at a wedding. Hamm got hammered early in the first half, but somehow returned later in the half to score our only goal.

But we lost both Assa and Skylee during the match, so by the time we headed to OT we seemed pretty gassed, and that is how we played even before the overtimes.

And Divine Savior played last night as well, but they did seem a little fresher to me.  As we grew more tired, we fouled more.  Divine Savior's best opportunities came from our fouling them. They got it tied from a free kick, and they just missed on another one that James made a beautiful save on. They hit a couple more on goal off free kicks as well—less dangerous, but on frame.

Divine Savior is always in the large class final 4 in Wisconsin, and my guess is they will be there again this year.  

BWhite named Kate Goza the BWhite Player of the Match. She was as dead as everyone else but she just toughed it out; she kept going.  Her effort and play for the 100 minutes was off-the-charts good.

Huge shoutout to Emily Nielsen, Patty Ehrnman, Leah Holton, and Kate Kutey who logged huge minutes for us this weekend and who all did a nice and important job.

Our corners were our best opportunities. We finished one but came oh so close on a couple more.

It was just a tough, gritty high school soccer match.  We wish the Dashers the best this season. They have a nice team.

STATS:

First Half: 

Saints: Shots 9 (5) Corners: 2 (Kutey, Cox)

13:49 Hamm (Kutey lifts the corner to the 8)

Dashers: Shots: 0 (0) Corners: 0

Second Half and Overtime:

Saints: Shots 4 (1) Corners: 2 (Cox 2)

Dashers: Shots 8 (6) Corners: 1

35:58 Phillips (Direct kick from 40 after the foul)

Catholic Challenge

5 April at STA vs. Kapaun Mt. Carmel (4-2)

We had a nice come-from-behind win tonight over a good Kapuan Team. They were great in the midfield and had a couple of nice forwards.  

We were missing both Meg Ramaekers and Kyli Jackson—so on the fly, we had to replace half of our backline. Overall, everyone did a great job. We got confused a couple of times, but that is probably to be expected. Kutey, Ehrnman, and Nielsen all gave us big and important minutes replacing two of our starters.

BWhite Player of the Match, Grace O'Keefe, playing ill, moved to the "9" for the second half and created 3 second half goals. She attacked the baseline to create our second and third goals, and then she unloaded a 22-yarder to get our fourth goal.  It was quite a performance.

Mia may not go unsung either, as she dummied/feinted two near-post balls that allowed us to knock home a couple of goals with almost open-nets. 

Hamm and Deladarantaye were in a battle all night. I thought they lost the first half, but that they won the second half—the same half we cashed three goals. 

And now we will line up with the best in Milwaukee, Divine Savior in the morning at 10:00 AM. Let's do it. Prom Saturday.

We now stand 4-2-0.

STATS:

First Half: Saints: Shots: 9 (5) Corners: 2 (O'Keefe, Hamm)

20:43 Goza (Kante lofts the long deadball)

Crusaders: Shots: 1 (1) Corners: 0

8:55 Lowe (we mishit the ball back to the keeper as the forward steps in wins it and shoots)

Second Half:

Saints: Shots 8 (7) Corners: 3 (Cox, O'Keefe, Deladarantaye)

28: 57 Deladarantaye (O'Keefe t's it through Del Popolo)

23:43 Bryson (O'Keefe t's it past Del Popolo)

6:41 O'Keefe (Bryson finds Grace who then turns it up towards the goal)

Watch James' save at the end: Here

Crusaders: Shots: 2 (1) Corners: 1

34:57 Lowe (Michaelis lifts the cross to backpost for the head-in)

At Southwest

2 April in EKL matchup with BV Southwest (1-2)

Game 5

Well, this played out to be a very entertaining high school soccer match with generous scoring opportunities for both teams. Despite playing a man down during the last 10 minutes, even then, we created numerous opportunities to score that tying goal.

The game was pretty physical in a competitive way. BWhite chose Kate Goza as the BWhite Player of the match, one of our most competitive girls.  She played tough.

Taylor was a little tentative in goal first half, but she sure made up for it in a brilliant second half in goal. Their winning goal came on a long cross past the back post that we failed to head and failed to close down. It was a nice finish, but really a shot that we should have not allowed.

We loved the fact that we came back from down 1 to tie it before the half. We came close on several occasions to tying it in the second half as well. It reminded us a lot of our opening match against Blue Valley.  

Basically, goals are so hard to come by in a good soccer match—we just can't gift goals to the other team. So, as we go forward, we need to tighten the ship up in the back as we did throughout our tournament. Keep in mind Southwest missed a PK as well (Check that one out!)

We still do not have our full complement of players, but hopefully, we have a few coming back this weekend, and more in the next couple of weeks. 

Kyli will have to sit Friday night now after the questionable red card (check it out!), and that will take out best defender off the field. Hopefully, we get Meg back by Friday.  And perhaps, we can add Muckerman and Erhnman as well.  Ryan is still a few weeks away.

Southwest did a nice job containing Grace, although she did have her chances to add a goal or two.  We need to combine with her better up top. The best example came in the closing minutes where she overlapped Gabi Cox who played her a brilliant ball going towards goal. Gabi even got the follow off the first save, and that follow kissed the top of the bar. Check it out.

It felt a lot different walking off the field last night as opposed to our final match of last season.  The girls continue to make strides forward. We have two tough ones this weekend, and we will be shy a few key players.

We now stand 3-2.

STATS:

First Half

Saints: Shots 5 (4) Corners: 5 (Bella 2, Cox 2, Kante)

22:00 Hamm (Assa strokes the left-footed corner to the back post where Hamm heads it down before recovering to lace it in)

T-Wolves: Shots: 3 (0) Corners: 1

Goal 1: Own goal

Second Half: Saints Shots: 5 (1) Corners: 2 (Hamm, Bryson)

T-Wolves: 7 (6) Corners: 2

Goal 2