St. Vincent girls soccer controls Mules in 2-0 victory

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- All it takes is one bad bounce, and 80 minutes of dominating soccer can go by the wayside.

For 73 minutes, the St. Vincent girls soccer team was playing with a 1-0 lead and with fire -- controlling the ball and keeping Poplar Bluff on its heels, but unable to put the nail in the coffin. That is, until the 74th minute, when Lauren Carron took advantage of a Mule turnover on the back line, pouncing and rolling a right-footed shot into the right side of goal from about 13 yards out for a 2-0 victory over Bluff on Monday at the Bank of Missouri Soccer Park.

"We've been on both ends of that before," St. Vincent coach Caitlin Pistorio said. "A 1-0 lead is the scariest place to be. I always feel better having two, if not more, in there.

"It was definitely in our offensive third for the majority of the time, which we always like, but it would be nice to get a few more in there, that's for sure."

The second goal was set up by pressure from left winger Kalli Seabaugh, who forced the turnover.

It was that pressure that allowed the Indians (7-3) to keep Poplar Bluff (6-9) backed up all game, winning the ball high up the field and keeping it out of the defensive third. In that way, St. Vincent's tactical setup -- mostly shifting between a 3-4-3 and a 3-5-2 -- worked to perfection.

The lopsided possession saw the Indians out-shoot the Mules 25-1, with the visitors' lone shot coming in the first minute of the second half, as Destiny Wallace turned and fired a shot on goal, but right at St. Vincent goalkeeper Courtney Brewer. It was the only time Brewer was forced to make a save.

"We were hopeful [to have that much possession]," Pistorio said. "Our girls, they really move with the ball well and have good ball-control skills, so we thought we had a good chance to control the ball most of the game, but teams like Poplar Bluff, you just never know. Any given day they can have their best game; you just never know."

And that's why the evening was a nerve-wracking one for the Indians, even with a firm grip on the contest. In the end, it turned out all the hosts needed was a fifth-minute strike from Faith Kapp, who also benefited from Seabaugh's work after the left-sided attacker swung the ball in. Kapp took the cross on the bounce, settled it, and put it into the right side of goal for a 1-0 advantage.

Kapp sprung Carron on three occasions in the first half, weighting the ball ahead of the striker and into the 18-yard box. But each time Carron either couldn't quite get there or was just a bit off on her touch, and St. Vincent couldn't capitalize.

That was the story for much of the game, with the Indians finding ways to threaten, but putting shots over the crossbar instead of under it.

"Our first touch on the ball just wasn't as good as we normally are," Pistorio said. "Usually, first touches we're moving in the direction we want to go or we're getting control over the ball, and tonight we just had a couple of bad deflections, bad bounces, I don't know. Just not as crisp as we'd like to be."

Poplar Bluff began looking for answers after about 15 minutes, when Wallace moved from the back line to the front in an effort to spark her team going forward. It worked to some extent, as the Mules were able to create a little danger in the 26th minute when the Indians defense failed to clear a ball out, but Brewer came out to snuff out the threat. Wallace then got in behind the defense in the 39th minute, but was whistled for a push-off and a foul.

Other than Bluff's one shot on net, it had an opportunity to equalize in the 56th minute, with Wallace swinging a cross in from the right and just missing a head on the far post. That was about the extent of the visitors' attacking pressure.

St. Vincent appeared to have a chance to go ahead when Abby Buchheit was shoved down in the right side of the penalty area in the 43rd minute, but the referee allowed the teams to play on.

Molly Myers then had a gilt-edged look in the 59th minute when center midfielder Emily Welker put a ball over the top to send the forward in on net, but the shot rolled just wide.

Then it was Sara Kapp's turn, failing to put home a shot after running on to a Carron through-ball.

But after all the frustration, the high volume of chances paid off when Carron finally gave the Indians a little room to breath.

"We know we've got to them in earlier," Pistorio said. "We've got a busy week ahead of us -- we've got about six games in six days. Every game we're going to learn a little more. This game was all about getting that first touch and capitalizing on opportunities. [That's] something we're hoping to take away from this as the week goes on."

St. Vincent travels to Festus today before hosting Festus' St. Pius X on Thursday. It will then participate in the Notre Dame Showdown on Friday and Saturday.