CHS WINS SECTIONAL GAME FOR FIRST TIME

FENTON -- Cape Girardeau Central High's girls soccer team finally got the breakthrough victory it had been seeking.

The Lady Tigers, who had lost to the eventual state champion in the sectional round each of the past two seasons, finally got over the hump Tuesday, beating Ritenour 1-0 in a Class 4A sectional game at the Anheuser-Busch Conference & Sports Centre.

Central, continuing its best-ever season with a 25-1-2 record, will take on Northwest of House Springs at 7 p.m. Saturday in the state quarterfinals at the A-B Conference & Sports Centre.

Northwest (18-4) upset highly-regarded Hazelwood Central (23-5-1) 1-0 on penalty kicks in another sectional game Tuesday night.

The winner of Saturday's contest will earn a berth in the Class 4A Final Four June 4-5.

"It's nice to finally win this game," said a smiling Central coach Tom Doyle. "We've been here (to sectionals) with the boys five times and now with the girls three times and this is our first time to advance.

"The girls did a good job. We maybe should have finished more than we did, but at this point, the big thing is to just win and move on."

Ritenour (9-11), which came into the sectional round lightly regarded, withstood an early barrage by the Lady Tigers to make a game of it when it looked at the outset like Central would roll.

"It just shows you that every team (in the playoffs) is going to be good," Doyle said. "They (Ritenour) were actually better than I thought they'd be."

Central had all kinds of early scoring chances, only to be thwarted by Ritenour goalkeeper Betsy Abbott, who made several impressive saves.

Ritenour very nearly broke through first on its only really strong scoring chance of the entire game as, about midway through the first half, Kristen Moore rifled a shot off the crossbar from right in front of the goal.

With just under five minutes left in the opening half, the Lady Tigers -- after missing out on several golden opportunities -- finally broke the ice.

Lorie Bittle took a nice pass from Amber Voerg, dribbled in and fired a rocket from about 20 yards that found the upper portion of the net.

"I didn't think I could make it," said an excited Bittle in describing the goal. "But I was determined. Amber is awesome up there and she gave me a great pass."

Of the Lady Tigers finally making it past the sectional round, a grinning Bittle said, "It feels awesome."

The second half was relatively uneventful, with Central controlling most of the play but not having nearly as many scoring opportunities as in the opening half. Ritenour seemed more comfortable in the final half and tested the Lady Tigers, but the Huskies still found good scoring opportunities few and far between.

Central goalie Heather Hey, with a major boost from her defense, posted her 18th shutout of the season as she continues to add to her school record total.

The Lady Tigers peppered the Ritenour goal with 19 shots but were thwarted all but once. Hey had to make six saves.

"In a game that you dominate, you have to make sure you don't get frustrated," Doyle said. "Overall, I thought we played well, but we didn't do the passing game like we need to.

"On the one goal we scored, we made three or four nice passes and we should be able to do that more. But it's great to win and we're looking forward to Saturday."