Crusaders advance to final four with win over Metro

An all-around effort propelled the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders to a 2-0 win over the Metro Panthers on Saturday at Saxony Lutheran High School.

After Metro had the first real scoring chance early in the first half, the Crusaders would proceed to turn every future Panthers attack away.

“We were a little timid in the first half,” Crusaders coach Chris Crawford said. “I think after they got that opportunity our girls realized they could be beat. We told them this team was good enough to do that and we were just stuck in neutral a bit and figured it out after that.”

Saxony Lutheran would generate multiple good scoring chances in the first half but the Crusaders couldn’t find the back of the net as the two teams entered halftime tied at zero.

“You’re always happy when you get opportunities,” Crawford said. “But, I thought if we were a bit more assertive and a little more confident in what we know how to do we probably would have put a few more away.”

Faith Dreyer would strike early in the second half to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.

“It was a huge goal,” Crawford said. “(Faith) and Camille (Richey) followed the shot and the goalie spilled it and then Faith cleaned it up. She’s kind of a pest when she’s in there, she’s gonna be all over the place and she’s going to follow stuff you don’t usually see people follow and she got rewarded for it.”

Crawford had high praise for the way Richey plays the game.

“She’s a menace,” Crawford said. “She does all the dirty work. She’s a very technical player and she does a lot of the stuff that doesn’t show up in the stats.”

After Dreyer’s goal in the 43rd minute, Sophie DeBrower would tack on another in the 65th minute to push the lead to 2-0.

“Sophie works hard every day,” Crawford said. “She’s come off the bench for us all year. She’s always in the right spot and working hard and she got rewarded for that.”

With the win, Saxony Lutheran (12-8) moves to the Class 1 State Semifinals where the Crusaders will take on Villa Duchesne at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 2, at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton.

“Tonight, we’re going to enjoy this one,” Crawford said. “Tomorrow the coaches will get back to work and start gathering film.”