Schools

St. Joe 5-0 Soccer Victory Less Than a Thing of Beauty

Sectional win over Northwest of Cedar Hill a match in slow motion.

The St. Joe soccer team knew they had an easy sectional game. They were playing Northwest of Cedar Hill, a team with just an 8-11 record.

“My team spends more time studying the SportsStats statistics than you or me,” said Angels’ coach Maureen McVey. They really know how to gauge an opponent.”

The Angles played like they had rocks in their pockets. Their only purpose seemed to be escaping the searing heat for cooler climes.

That said, they peppered the nets for a 5-0 shutout and upped the record to 14-6-1, recording their 7th in a row.

Had senior goalkeeper Alyssa Arnold not played brilliantly for the Lions, it could have been worse.

By the time the game was nearly over, senior forward Claire Champion was down to t-shirt and shorts, jogging shoes and ice bags wrapped on both legs. Champion was the second to get on the board with a slicing shot past Arnold for her only goal, some 20 minutes into the first half. Alli Magaletta scored first for the Angels.

St. Joe has six seniors on this squad. “We are playing for all of them. No one wants to see the season end early,” said Champion. Characterizing the long season, she said: “We started off slow then we came together as a team. Northwest kind of took us out of our game. We just weren’t able to play our style of game--attack, attack,” she said.

McVey didn’t like the game she just coached. “To be honest, we played lazy today. You heard what I was telling them. They played the ball side to side way too much rather than pushing the ball down the field.”

“We had an extensive scouting report on them (the Lions). We knew they were big and they were physical.”

McVey is certain, her team will have to play better Saturday to reach the Final 4 in Kansas City. The Angels face the winner of Eureka/Incarnate Word, location and time yet to be determined.

“We’d like to play Eureka. They beat us earlier,” said Champion. “We’d be happy playing either team,” she said.

Besides, Champion and Magaletta, St. Joe got goals from Lauren Nuelle, freshman Carly Wickenhieser, and Lauren Budd. Courtney Benning had 2 assists.

The Angels improved the mark to 14-6-1. Northwest finished up 8-12.


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