Youthful Indians age the opposition

FENTON -- The St. Vincent girls soccer team stopped worrying about age a while ago.

The Indians will try for the Class 1 state championship today with a team that features five freshmen and four sophomores.

Those freshmen and sophomores scored three of the team's four goals in Friday's 4-1 victory over St. Pius X of Kansas City in the semifinals.

"I don't think age really matters anymore," St. Vincent sophomore Emily Cissell said. "We're unified. We don't really think of age. We try to play our roles as best we can."

The Indians have been getting contributions from underclassmen all season. Freshmen Courtney Heberlie (11 goals), French Storm (nine goals) and Abby Lappe (nine goals) rank among the team's most potent scorers.

St. Vincent's Abby Lappe, right, centers around St. Pius X defender Meredith O'Malley Friday, June 5, 2009, during their semifinal game at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton. (Kit Doyle)

"I don't feel there's too much pressure because I'm just a freshman," French said. "But I need to keep going steady and do as good as I can to help the seniors."

If the underclassmen suffered from nerves entering Friday's state semifinal, it was hard to tell. Cissell scored 30 seconds into the contest, and Heberlie and French helped control the tempo in the midfield.

"I was more excited than I was nervous," French said. "I couldn't sleep last night. I was like, 'I want to play this game so bad,' because I want to go to the game tomorrow."

Another key freshman, defender Kayla Seabaugh, said she usually doesn't get nervous before a game, but Friday was different.

"I wasn't nervous until we actually stepped on the field," she said. "Then that's when it hit me. I was like, 'Wow, we're playing to play for the championship.' But once we got that first goal in the beginning, it was kind of all good.

Storm French centers a ball around St. Pius X defender Lauren Reinhart during their Class 1 semifinal game Friday at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton. (Kit Doyle)

"Generally when the whistle blows, I can get all the stuff out of my head and it's just soccer. For two hours I can think about just soccer. I'm not bad once it starts, once it gets going."

Seabaugh displayed plenty of concentration when she headed home a corner kick from French in the second half.

Senior Courtney Besand, one of three seniors on the team, said she's long past the awkwardness of seeing so many underclassmen contribute.

"They're quicker and there's more of them than us seniors," she said. "They're our future, so you kind of got to worry about them."

Junior Liz Brueckner gave a few reasons why she enjoys having the underclassmen around.

"It takes the pressure off you," she said. "They weave well into the rest of the team. It's kind of the glue that holds us together."

Then Brueckner added the most important reason.

"Without them, we wouldn't be here," Brueckner said.