Crusaders fall to Villa Duchesne in semis

FENTON - A quick start was the difference in Saxony Lutheran’s 4-0 loss to Villa Duchesne on Friday in the Class 1 State Semifinal at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

Villa Duchesne opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Georgia Leary scored on a penalty kick.

As time was dwindling down in the first half the Saints would strike again to make it 2-0 and with just three minutes remaining in the half, Leary would score on another penalty kick to make it 3-0 Saints entering the halftime break.

“I’ve been around soccer a really long time and I’ve never seen two penalties given in one half,” Crusaders coach Chris Crawford said. “I’m not saying anything about the refereeing and it’s not an excuse, it's just mentally a hard thing to battle back from. I thought we battled back pretty well. Going down 3-0 at half and two of them being on penalties, it’s easy for you to shut down and my girls didn’t.”

Just 10 minutes into the second half the Saints would expand the lead to 4-0 with another goal to put the game out of reach.

Despite the lopsided score, Saxony Lutheran still maintained much of the possession.

“We had the ball,” Crawford said. “We just couldn’t finish.”

Crawford had high praise for the senior duo of Ava Perry and Anna Mueller who will play their final game Saturday morning.

“They’re incredible,” Crawford said. “To have your freshman year taken away and then as the two seniors on this team you lead your team to a final four. Obviously, they’re frustrated they’re not going to be standing at the top spot on that podium tomorrow but I think when we look back after the season they’re going to be very proud of themselves.”

Saxony Lutheran (12-9) will take on Bishop LeBlond at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 3, at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton.

“We’re here to do a job,” Crawford said. “We’re still here to win the next game and we talked about that no matter what we want to make Saturday a win.”