St. Vincent reaches Class 1 final

~ St. Vincent scores in the first minute of its semifinal victory.

FENTON -- Forget about dealing with early game jitters.

The St. Vincent girls soccer team needed 30 seconds to dent the scoreboard.

Emily Cissell fielded a crossing pass in the box and buried a high shot to give the Indians a lead less than a minute into Friday's Class 1 state semifinal against St. Pius X of Kansas City.

"I was surprised," Cissell said. "It was a good way to start the game. We never score that quick in a game. But we were expected to come out and try out hardest, and it happened."

St. Vincent players celebrate Emily Cissell's goal in the first minute of the game Friday at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton. (Kit Doyle)

St. Vincent coach Dustin Wengert said the players weren't the only ones experiencing pre-game nerves. He appreciated Cissell's efforts to calm his stomach.

"Of the 22 of us sitting over there on the bench, I think I was the most nervous," he said. "I tell you what, one goal 30 seconds in does a great deal for your nerves. You can sit and relax."

Wengert wasn't surprised to see who scored the opening goal. Cissell scored seven times entering Friday's game, but four of them were game-winners.

"She seems to have a knack to score," Wengert said. "She's a smart player. She's not the quickest. She'd be right up there with ball skills, the best handling the ball. She never gets herself out of position."

The Indians worked for two more excellent scoring chances in the next 40 seconds to work out the butterflies.

"We were really excited because you didn't have as much pressure on your shoulders," St. Vincent senior Courtney Besand said. "It was a relief after that. We were working and talking together, just passing it, trying to get our foot on it first on 50-50 balls."

St. Vincent dominated the play in the first half, keeping the ball in the Warriors' end for the majority of the opening 40 minutes. But Hilary Torres evened the score with 20:44 left before halftime when she sent a high, arcing shot from outside the box into the far upper corner of the net to even the score.

"It was a really good shot," St. Vincent junior Kristin Mattingly said. "It looked like she was crossing it. It was really good."

Torres' shot kept the Indians grounded and provided motivation to stay focused.

"If she put one of those on again, who knows where the ballgame could have gone," St. Vincent junior Liz Brueckner said.

After outplaying the Warriors, it looked like St. Vincent would have to settle for a tie at halftime. But Brueckner made sure that didn't happen. After a corner kick, Brueckner was able to deflect a shot past St. Pius goalie Danielle Conforti with 3:47 left in the half for the 2-1 lead.

St. Vincent had its chances to build a significant lead in the first half, but entered the break with a 2-1 advantage.

Mattingly said she took it as a positive that her team could have added more goals in the first half.

"I think we knew we could do it because we could have scored more," she said. "I think we knew we had it."

St. Pius (16-9-1) opened the second half by controlling the tempo for the first 10 minutes or so, but St. Vincent (19-5) quickly regained control. The Indians' defense and midfielders managed to work the ball across midfield and create more scoring chances.

"We worked together really well," Mattingly said of the defense. "We have a lot of speed on defense and we're pretty good with our midfield coming back to help us. We just were talking together really good. I don't know, it was just working."

The Indians added an insurance goal with 23:29 left when freshman French Storm lofted a corner kick into the center of the box. Fellow freshman Kayla Seabaugh headed home her team's third goal.

"I'm just trying to put it near the goal in the air so Kayla can head it or someone else can put it in," French said. "It was awesome."

The Indians added another goal less than 10 minutes later when Cissell scored her second goal. She took a pass from Brueckner, used a little fancy footwork to get open and hit a low shot to the corner to cap the scoring.

The Indians returned to Perryville after the game for a pool party, then planned to eat breakfast together before boarding the bus for today's title game. They'll face Trinity Catholic, a 2-0 winner over Springfield Catholic in Friday's other semifinal.

"I think if we come out and play like we did most of the game today, I think we'll be good," Mattingly said.