Southeast Missourian Player of the week: St. Vincent's Holly Blandford

Holly Blandford helped the St. Vincent girls soccer team gain an important victory over a district rival.

The sophomore scored once and assisted on another goal in the Indians' 2-1 victory over St. Pius, the team they defeated in last year's Class 1 District 1 title game.

"Last year they beat us 3-0 our first game," Blandford said. "Then we beat them in districts. And this year we had to pull the strong defense against them because they're amazing."

Blandford's goal came off a corner kick by Storm French that was headed toward the goal by Kayla Seabaugh. Blandford was there to deflect it into the net.

"You just kind of got to know where you're supposed to be," Blandford said. "[Corners are] like our secret weapon. Kayla is usually pretty good at heading it, and it works for us."

Blandford's pass to Brooke Monier helped the Indians build a 2-0 lead before halftime, and they held on for the win.

St Vincent, which lost to Springfield Catholic in last year's Class 1 state championship game, improved to 8-0 this season with the victory.