St. Vincent’s Adams, Barnes net top JCAA accolades

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St. Vincent junior Lana Adams and girls soccer coach Cari Barnes were awarded top honors by members of the Jefferson County Athletic Association, which announced its all-conference honors.

Adams, who has verbally committed to the University of Missouri, was named the conference player of the year, while Barnes was named the conference coach of the year after voting by member coaches.

Barnes called Adams’ honor more than a big deal, especially for a junior.

“That’s a huge deal, but she’s so deserving,” Barnes said. “She’s a great player and equally great kid, so I’m super proud of her.”

As for her own honor, Barnes was much more reserved,” giving her team all the credit.

“Obviously, it’s an honor, but it’s not about me,” Barnes said. “I’ve been so fortunate to have the girls I’ve had this season. It’s about them, they made this what it was.”

“What it was” included a 21-4 record, conference and district titles, and a second-place finish in the Class state tournament in Barnes’ second season as head coach.

In two seasons, Barnes has a record of 32-13 with one district title and a second-place finish in the Class 2 state championship, following a 1-0 loss to Clayton.

“I’ve been blessed with just a great group of girls, and they make my job real easy,” Barnes said.

Adams is at the top of the list when it comes to that. The junior finished with a team-high Adams finished the season with 53 goals and 25 assists, numbers which included 13 goals and 10 assists in conference play, putting her in the No. 1 spot in the JCAA, followed by Perryville’s Ava Ernst, who finished with 9 goals and 3 assists in conference play.

Also key was the Lady Indians’ return to Class 2 after playing in Class 3 as a result of the team’s previous success under the Missouri State High School Activities Association’s special rules for private schools.

“That Class 3 is tough,” said Barnes, following her team’s victory in the Class 2, District 1 championship last month.

“Our enrollment’s like 120 kids. We were going against people that have literally six and eight times more than that. That’s tough. The fact that we were even competing and won a couple of districts speaks volumes for our program.”

The Lady Indians claimed their ninth district title since 2009 and their seventh trip to the state tournament in the past 16 years. It was their sixth appearance in the state championship, a run that includes three state titles and three second-place finishes. It was their first district title since 2023 and their first trip to the state semifinals since 2019.

Senior Abigail Schilling joined Adams on the all-conference team, also earning first-team honors. Schilling, who will play college soccer for Western Illinois next year, finished the season with 23 goals and 15 assists. Earning second-team honors for St. Vincent were Rylee Robinson, Haley Emmendorfer, and Mallory Patrick.

“They were all starters for us,” Barnes said. “Unfortunately, Haley had a knee injury come up probably midseason that started bothering her, and then she played a little bit, kind of off and on through like mid to late season. And then, she was able to come back a little for us and give us some minutes in the state final game. She had scored a goal in pretty much every conference game, so I think she was very deserving of getting that honor.”

Ernst earned first-team honors for Perryville, along with senior Caroline Gremaud, while senior Jewel Riney and sophomore Madeleine Gremaud were named to the second team.

Perryville coach Dwayne Hadler said both seniors will be hard to replace.

“Caroline is a great player,” Hadler said. “Not just good, but a great player. Interesting thing with Caroline, at the conference meetings where we voted for all of our conference, she was the second highest vote getter of all of the players at our conference. As a defender, that speaks volumes, because it’s usually the people who have the higher statistics, the things that people see. I know that [Adams] got player of the year — and she absolutely deserves that — but for a defender to get the second most votes of all the players in conference, that really shows that everyone recognized how good a player she is.”

Hadler also had much praise for Riney.

“Jewel’s improvement every year has been very consistent,” Hadler said. “This year, she made a really big jump with her play and her leadership. Her leadership probably meant more than her play to be honest, because we needed that leadership. She’s not the flashy scorer, but with her hard work in the midfield, especially with the injuries that we had, it’s important for her to get recognized for what she did.”