CHS LANCED IN 4A SEMIS; LAVAYETTE REACHES TITAL GAME VIA 3-1 WIN

FENTON -- Cape Girardeau Central High's dream girls soccer season hit a major bump in the road Friday night.

The Lady Tigers, competing in the Class 4A semifinals for the first time ever, ran into a talented Lafayette team -- and Central suffered a 3-1 loss at the Anheuser-Busch Conference & Sports Centre.

Central fell to 26-2-2. The Lady Tigers will still have an opportunity to close out their record-setting season on a winning note when they take on Lee's Summit North (25-2-2) at noon today in the 4A third-place game.

Lafayette (21-2-1) will face defending state champion St. Joseph's Academy (25-2-1) at 2 p.m. today for the title.

St. Joseph's defeated Lee's Summit North 5-0 in Friday's other semifinal.

"It's disappointing, but we ran into a very good team tonight," said Central coach Tom Doyle. "And you can't take away from what we did to get here."

Two years ago, Lafayette edged Central 1-0 in the sectional round -- and the Lady Lancers went on to win the state championship.

That's why Lafayette coach Tim Walters said he expected a tight game Friday -- but it never materialized.

Lafayette utilized its superior speed to control play from the outset. The Lady Lancers had the ball in Central's end of the field for virtually the entire first half.

The Lady Lancers led 3-0 at halftime -- and the score could easily have been 7-0.

"Heather Hey (Central's goalie) played fantastic," said Doyle. "She made some great saves in the first half."

Said Walters, "I'm very happy with the way we played tonight. I expected a close game. They've played a good schedule like we have.

"They don't give up many goals and they score a bunch. It turned out very well for us."

Lafayette's Jen Zimmerman clanged a shot off the post just seven minutes into the opening 40 minutes.

But the Lady Lancers scored six minutes later when Kristen Sprunger booted in her 21st goal of the season. Her blast from about 20 yards hit the crossbar and bounced in.

Hey, who has 19 shutouts this season, made a brilliant diving save to thwart Lafayette freshman sensation Carmen Bagnanno, who leads the squad with 22 goals and 18 assists.

Midway through the opening half, Bagnanno got behind the Central defense and was taken down. Bagnanno was awarded a penalty kick -- but fired wide to the left.

With 15 minutes remaining before halftime, the Lady Lancers grabbed a 2-0 lead as Blair Douglass took a nice pass and beat Hey to the left side of the goal.

With Lafayette continuing to pour on the pressure, Sprunger scored her second goal of the game just six minutes before halftime to give the Lady Lancers a 3-0 lead.

A three-goal deficit in soccer is like about a 35-point hole in football. Doyle simply wanted to see his team continue to play hard in the second half.

"I told them to get their heads up and win the second half," Doyle said. "I said we may not win the game, but win the second half."

With Lafayette keeping one eye toward today's state title game against powerhouse St. Joseph's, Central was able to win the second half.

With just three minutes left before the end of the contest, Katie Hawkins scored as the Lady Tigers averted the shutout.

Now the Lady Tigers will try to capture third place today.

"We want to finish up strong," said Doyle. "Winning third place would be a great accomplishment."