St. Vincent concludes season with victory in third-place game

FENTON, Mo. -- Preparing to play in the Class 1 third-place game was not something the St. Vincent girls soccer team was ready to do entering the final four as the top-ranked defending state champions.

So after a heartbreaking loss in the semifinals to No. 2-ranked Springfield Catholic on Friday, the Indians needed a meeting or two to get ready to face Barstow on Saturday at the Anheuser-Busch Center.

"We had a get-together last night as a team and talked about the game and talked about the things that we needed to work on to make yesterday not happen again today," St. Vincent senior Liz Brueckner said. "So we talked about it yesterday and then when we were getting ready on the bus, we talked a little bit about it and then in the locker room we talked."

All the conversation worked as St. Vincent defeated Barstow 2-0 in a game that never felt as close as the scoreboard said it was.

The Indians earned their first scoring opportunity, though not a shot on goal, and a corner kick less than four minutes into the game and proceeded to pound shot after shot at the Barstow goal before eventually scoring with less than two minutes to go before halftime.

St. Vincent's Courtney Heberlie beams after scoring her team's second goal in the Class 1 third-place game Saturday in Fenton, Mo. (FRED LYNCH ~ flynchsemissourian.com)

"I didn't get frustrated," said sophomore Abby Lappe, who scored the goal. "I knew we'd eventually get it. We just couldn't get it in for some reason, but we just kept working hard and knew it would eventually go in."

After a cross from Brueckner, a couple of St. Vincent players got touches on the ball before it ended up on Lappe's foot.

"I was just kind of running to get where I was supposed to be," Lappe said. "It just kind of rolled by me so I just shot it, hoping it would go in."

Most of the game was played on Barstow half, with the Knights rarely sending more than three players across midfield to attack.

"I think we controlled the game today," St. Vincent coach Dustin Wengert said. "Unlike yesterday [when] I think we were on the heels when Springfield Catholic was throwing everything at us.

St. Vincent's Rachel Sutterer attempts a shot in front of Barstow's Mandy Bailes during the first half of the Class 1 third-place game Saturday at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton, Mo. The Indians won 2-0. (FRED LYNCH ~ flynchsemissourian.com)

"Today we were able to get an offensive push and really control the tempo and that allowed us to get things."

St. Vincent got its second goal from sophomore midfielder Courtney Heberlie with 27:19 to go in the second half after teammate Megan Sutterer's near miss.

"I just took a shot and figured I'd go low because we had been shooting them high and they'd all been going over or the goalie stopped them," Sutterer said. "So I went low [and] hit off the post. Luckily one of the girls was able to tap it back in and put the ball in the back of the net."

Heberlie's shot also caught some iron.

"I was excited I got it in," she said. "I thought I missed it because it hit the post and it was going to bounce out, but then it rolled in."

St. Vincent's Valerie Smith tries to kick the ball away from Barstow's Mandy Bailes during the first half.

The victory marked the end of an impressive 23-3 season for St. Vincent. The team's three losses came to Class 3 Jackson, Alton, Ill., and Springfield Catholic, which won the Class 1 title Saturday.

"We lost to schools that were great games and everything was by a goal, so what is there to complain about?" Wengert said. "We competed in every game and that's all you ask for."

The third-place finish meant the team's seven seniors got to finish their high school careers with a win while, according to Wengert, the 15 returning players got their motivation for next season.

"I guess the best way to describe it is it might be better if we'd never known what it was like to be on top," Wengert said. "Here we are, we're taking our third-place medals and it's just a medal now. Last year when we won it, it was all excitement. You almost wish that you were never on top so you don't have to feel the letdown that we're going through."

Senior Kristin Mattingly smiled and clutched the third-place medal around her neck when asked about going out with a win.

"It's really nice," she said. "It's a great way to end your season. Third place is still very good, so we're still very pleased with it."