St. Vincent girls soccer team advances to Class 1 state title game

FENTON, Mo. -- So much for the freshman jitters.

St. Vincent rookie Holly Blandford made the most of her first appearance on the state stage.

She found herself alone with Orchard Farm goalkeeper Abby Gruendler early in Friday's Class 1 state semifinal soccer game. Blandford dipped to her left to get around Gruendler, who dived and missed, and buried a shot into an open goal less than 10 minutes into the contest.

"It felt amazing," Blandford said. "I thought I was going to miss it."

The Indians poured it on from there to post a 6-2 victory and advance to Saturday's state championship game at the Anheuser-Busch Center. It will be St. Vincent's second appearance in the state title game in three years. The Indians captured the state crown in 2009.

"I liked her composure through the whole thing," St. Vincent coach Dusty Wengert said about Blandford. "She's got a heck of a foot and I was afraid the first one would sail over onto the next field."

Blandford wasn't done. She got free again about 10 minutes into the second half with only Gruendler in her way. Blandford deked the junior goalie and found the back of the net for the second time.

"I don't expect anything less," St. Vincent junior Kayla Seabaugh said. "She's a great player and she's helped us out a lot this season. It wasn't that much of a surprise. I'm glad she got it. I think it was a big ego boost for her."

Wengert smiled when he saw Blandford score. Not only did his team grab the lead, but it also was a bit of redemption for Blandford.

"She missed one like that at John Burroughs [in the state quarterfinals] where the keeper came out and wide-open net behind the keeper," he said. "I pulled her out immediately after the John Burroughs game and said, 'I'm not mad, I'm not upset, but if it happens again, just touch one side or the other and the keeper will be dead in the water.' Sure enough, she got it twice today and did the exact same thing."

Blandford said earlier in the week that she anticipated a lot of nerves in the hours leading up to Friday's game, but said she only felt a few butterflies before the game started. The goal helped her get comfortable on the big stage.

"She told me that she didn't sleep at all last night because of the nerves and the excitement," Wengert said. "But I think somebody like Holly and a lot of these girls, home away from home is the soccer field. As soon as that whistle blows, everything goes away and everything relaxes."

The Indians (22-4) kept pelting Gruendler, who made two point-blank stops to keep her team in the game. But Indians senior Chelsie Boxdorfer picked the perfect time to tally her first goal of the season.

Emily Cissell sent a ball into the box and Boxdorfer cut a shot from the right past Gruendler.

"We passed really well," Boxdorfer said. "We worked really well and we just moved down the field really well."

Wengert said he liked his team's position at halftime. The Indians only led 2-0 but dominated most of the half.

"Always whenever you get goals in the first half, you establish yourselves," St. Vincent senior Valerie Smith said. "It gives you more confidence throughout the game. It gets the other team down."

Smith went to work early in the second half. She took a feed from the left and knocked it into the net for a 3-0 lead less than two minutes into the second half.

Blandford's second goal and one from Holly Cissell over the next 10 minutes pushed the Indians' lead to 5-0 and allowed Wengert to substitute freely, which was especially important with the temperature in the 90s.

"Our main focus after we hit our three- and four-goal mark was just to sit back and hydrate, cool down, get ready for tomorrow was our main focus," Smith said.

Seabaugh scored the Indians' final goal off a header with 20 minutes left in the game.

Orchard Farm (17-8) scored twice in the final 16 minutes, but the Indians' bench had been emptied long before then and Wengert allowed players to try new positions.

"Everyone was getting playing time," Boxdorfer said. "People who were playing defense have never played defense before. It seemed a lot more relaxed. I think we were just saving some energy for tomorrow."

The Indians now will get a chance to pay back the team that derailed their attempt to repeat as state champions last year. St. Vincent will face Springfield Catholic, which defeated Pembroke Hill 5-0 in Friday's other state semifinal, in today's noon title game. The Irish defeated the Indians 1-0 in last year's state semifinal.

"We've talked about avenging losses all year," Wengert said. "Springfield Catholic returns a lot of players and they're going to be extremely good."

We'll provide regular updates at semoball.com during Saturday's state title game.