St. Vincent soccer team dominates in Class 1 sectional

~ The Indians won 3-0 to reach the quarterfinals for the third straight year

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The St. Vincent girls soccer team is headed back to the Class 1 quarterfinals for the third year in a row.

The Indians can thank just enough offense and plenty of defense.

Two years after winning the Class 1 championship and a year after finishing third in Class 1, the Indians rolled to a 3-0 victory over visiting St. Elizabeth Academy on Tuesday night in a Class 1 sectional.

"You can't even explain the feeling," Indians defender Mallory Tucker said. "It's basically the best. And then every time people doubt you and say, 'They won't go back,' it gives us that much motivation to come back and do it again."

St. Vincent's Ashlee Wingerter scores a goal as St. Elizabeth Academy's Natalie Shepherd defends during the second half of their Class 1 sectional game Tuesday in Perryville, Mo.

St. Vincent (20-4) dominated all game, never allowing a shot on goal and peppering the Hawks' defense all night.

The Indians controlled possession for nearly the entire game and used wide spacing to attack.

"I think it's controlling the midfield," Indians coach Dusty Wengert said. "Since we've made the change to bring Abby [Lappe] off the front line and back into the midfield, I think her working with Courtney Heberlie and moving the two Cissell sisters outside has really solidified our play in the midfield. That's where everything starts in the game of soccer. You've got to control the midfield. When we do that, we're able to control games like we did today."

St. Vincent nearly broke through just six minutes into the game.

Holly Blandford volleyed a shot from a Storm French cross that hit a Hawks defender guarding the goal post and bounced out.

The Indians again almost broke through but Emily Cissell was stopped by a sliding Hawks defender on a breakaway.

Kayla Seabaugh hit a perfect header off a French corner kick that was stopped by a diving goalie two minutes later.

"It's a frustrating game," Wengert said. "How many shots did we have on goal, 25, 30? It's just a game -- it's going to be very cliche -- but it's a game of inches. They were playing very defensively to try and stay into the ballgame today. When they do that, you have to make shots outside the 18. We weren't able to do that today, but we were able to get three and that's all that matters."

The Indians finally took the lead with 24 minutes left in the first half.

Blandford hit a shot that was stopped by a diving goalie, but the ball bounced among defenders before Seabaugh buried it into an open net.

"I just saw the ball and I thought the goalie had caught it and I turned around and Holly Blandford was behind me so I just finished it," Seabaugh said. "I saw it and finished it. We've worked a lot on finishing this year, and I think that kicked in."

The goal was key in relaxing the Indians.

"That's one of the things we always stress every game is to try and come out and set the tempo the first 10 minutes and to strike first and put ourselves up," Wengert said. "It relaxes you and it gives you that comfort of knowing that if you falter, you're still OK. I like the way we're playing. We are playing with a lot of confidence right now."

St. Vincent went up 2-0 with 17 minutes left in the half when Tucker buried a volley off a cross.

"[Seabaugh] was coming in on it and when I see that, obviously I let my teammate have it," Tucker said. "But she was at an odd angle and I had the good angle coming in, so I knew if she didn't get it, I could finish."

St. Vincent let up little in the second half, continuing its strong offensive performance while its defense refused to allow the Hawks (7-14) any hopes at breaking through.

"Tonight it had a good night because the offense was moving the ball so well," Tucker said about the defense. "So it makes it easy on us."

Added Wengert: "That's one thing we've had a hard time this year with is that first five or 10 minutes of that second half. It's kind of having that letdown. It's almost like we'd rather not have a halftime. It's nice to come out and set the tempo."

The Indians put the game out of reach with 15 minutes left.

Ashlee Wingerter received a ball at the top of the box, spun around her defender and buried a left-footed shot that froze the goalie.

The Indians will face John Burroughs, a 6-1 winner over Crossroads College Prep, in a Class 1 quarterfinal Saturday.