Mattingly's big stop keeps St. Vincent girls soccer team in title game

FENTON, Mo. -- Springfield Catholic pelted St. Vincent goalkeeper Katie Mattingly with shots throughout Saturday's Class 1 state title game.

But Mattingly's biggest test came late in the first half when teammate Storm French was whistled for a push in the box, which gave the Irish a penalty kick.

The game was tied at 2-2 with 55 seconds left in the first half when Natalie Smid lined up for the penalty kick.

"I've been working on penalty kicks and I knew I couldn't just go in there guessing," Mattingly said. "If they shoot it right at you, you have no chance of getting it. I just went in there and I just wait until she kicked it and I could see it and reacted."

Smid has some history with the Indians. She's the player who scored the lone goal in last year's state semifinal between the teams, which propelled Springfield Catholic to the 2010 state title.

St. Vincent players present their second-place trophy to their fans after losing to Springfield Catholic in Saturday's state championship game.

Smid slammed a low shot destined for the corner to Mattingly's left, but the 5-foot-10 freshman keeper stretched to push aside the shot.

"That was probably the best save I've made and it was really exciting," Mattingly said. "I was just worried about getting up and getting the rebound after that."

Mattingly wasn't done. The Irish gained control of the rebound and sent a shot toward the near post, which Mattingly gobbled up.

"We were just so overwhelmed whenever Katie stopped that," French said. "It just proves that she is pretty sure-handed now. We all believe in her. We knew she could do it. She sometimes doesn't have that much faith in herself, but we knew she could stop it. Our adrenaline just kept pumping."

St. Vincent coach Dusty Wengert said he noticed a change in his team after Mattingly's big save.

St. Vincent goal keeper Katie Mattingly pears through her teammates after they were defeated by Springfield Catholic 3-2 Saturday, June 4, 2011 during the MSHSAA Class 1 girls soccer championship game in Fenton, Mo. (Laura Simon)

"You could see our girls' hands on knees right there thinking, 'Ah, here we go, we're going down at half at 3-2,'" he said. "She comes up and doesn't make just one save, she deflects it off then comes in and just smothers the ball on the nearside post. Absolutely amazing."

Springfield Catholic coach Ben Timson said he addressed Mattingly's save during his halftime talk with his team.

"She's incredible on that," Timson said about Mattingly. "That was the first five minutes of halftime -- don't let that get to you. This is a game that both teams are so mentally tough and so experienced. Both of us have been here three years in a row, so you've got to keep your heads up and just keep going forward for the full 80 minutes, and I thought they responded really well."

Springfield Catholic freshman Lydia Holtman, who scored the game-winner late in the second half, said the Irish quickly moved on from the missed opportunity on the penalty kick.

"That was right before halftime and at half, our seniors picked us up," she said. "They were telling us that we knew we had it and we were the better team. We just had a lot of encouragement."

St. Vincent junior Courtney Heberlie heads the ball against Springfield Catholic during the first half Saturday. The teams entered halftime tied 2-2, but Springfield Catholic scored the game-winner with less than 10 minutes left in the game.

Mattingly finished the season with 13 shutouts. She only allowed 20 goals in 27 games to help the Indians finish 22-5.

"She played much older than her freshman status today," Wengert said. "She kept us in the game a lot."