St. Vincent wants third memorable performance

~ Strong games against Jackson and Notre Dame helped prepare the Indians for today's Class 1 soccer semifinal against St. Pius X.

PERRYVILLE -- The St. Vincent girls soccer team points to two games during the season when it started to realize its potential this season.

First, the Indians dropped a 1-0 decision to Jackson in the Noon Optimist tournament early season. Then came a rematch with Notre Dame after the Bulldogs trounced the Indians 6-1.

"It really kind of was an embarrassment to our girls," St. Vincent coach Dustin Wengert said of the first game against Notre Dame. "Then we come up here about two weeks later and beat them 2-1 in overtime."

That overtime win against Notre Dame bolstered the Indians' confidence and helped catapult them to a run at a state title.

"I think those are two games that really stick out in your mind and say that when we play our style of game and believe in ourselves, we can play with anybody," Wengert said of the Jackson loss and Notre Dame win.

The Indians (18-5) have won nine in a row as they enter today's Class 1 state semifinal at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton. The Indians will face St. Pius X (16-8-1) of Kansas City at 11 a.m.

"Their midfield is pretty good," Wengert said of St. Pius. "They play a deep sweeper, a 4-4-2 formation, nothing that we haven't seen all year."

Wengert decided to make a few adjustments to practice this week, starting at 11 a.m. to prepare for today's early start.

"You get their bodies adjusted to playing at 11 o'clock and waking them up," Wengert said. "We had them make sure they try to get up before 9 o'clock, try to stay in that school type of function."

Even though summer vacation started, the players don't mind the early start to their day.

"It's not hard at all," senior Morgan Moll said. "We love what we're doing."

Two members of the Indians soccer team, Courtney Besand and Moll, experienced the final four atmosphere when the volleyball team played in the Class 2 title match in 2007. Wengert tried to help the rest of his team understand the pressure of the final four during this week's practice.

"A lot of reward-consequence type drills this week," he said. "If you miss something, it goes over the net, you've got to run. You make sure they feel some kind of pressure in practice so that when they get there Friday and there's 200 people watching them, they don't freak out."

The Indians know that getting off to a fast start will be crucial to success today.

"Coach always told us to take the first five minutes and learn from it -- get all the nerves out and just start passing and figuring out the other team," junior Amanda Wengert said. "After those five or 10 minutes are over, then just start playing our game."

Besand leads the offensive attack from the midfield. She's scored 17 goals and added 10 assists, while forward Liz Brueckner has 15 goals and five assists. Midfielder Courtney Heberlie has 11 goals, while adding three assists.

"I think we have to settle in and get to our game and play our game before we play St. Pius' game," coach Wengert said. "I think it's going to be our offense that's got to take quality over quantity shots. We may not be able to throw 20 shots on goal, but if we can put 10 on and get 10 quality shots, I think we can put one in the back of the net."

St. Pius enters undefeated in its last nine games, going 8-0-1 and outscoring opponents 38-6. Junior forward Hilary Torres leads the offensive attack with 19 goals, while junior forward Hannah Arredondo scored 16 times and sophomore midfielder Katie Gengler has 12.

The other semifinal pits Trinity Catholic (17-9) against Springfield Catholic (19-6). The state championship game is Saturday at noon, while the third-place game is Saturday at 11 a.m.