SV soccer scores late to defeat Saxony

St. Vincent and Saxony Lutheran girls soccer teams have a storied history, from fighting for Class 1 supremacy within the last decade to state runs and district titles, even in Class 3, in the case of the Indians.
There is a deep respect for each program between the teams and coaches. So it makes sense that Monday was no different when the Indians and Crusaders played again and renewed their local rivalry.
In a back-and-forth match that saw both teams have their chances to score, St. Vincent was the first to break through and secure the victory. St. Vincent scored twice in the last six minutes to defeat Saxony 2-0 on Monday at Saxony Lutheran High School.
“It’s a good win for us,” St. Vincent coach Cari Barnes said. “We are overcoming a lot of injuries this season and continue to work hard every day and the results are turning in our favor right now. We are starting to see some things that we have been working on come to life.”
One of those injuries has been to sophomore Lana Adams. Last year’s leading scorer for the Indians just returned to the lineup for St. Vincent within the last few weeks, after hurting her knee last summer, and has helped turn the season around for the team.
St. Vincent has won six of seven games after starting the season 2-3. Adams started the game in the goal for the first 25 minutes and from there played in the midfield for St. Vincent.
“We are just getting her comfortable playing soccer again,” Barnes said.
Saxony and St. Vincent went back and forth in the contest through the first 75 minutes, St. Vincent was called offsides on what looked to be a goal in the first 15 minutes. Adams made a save in the 25th minutes and Jocelyn Leible saved a shot minutes later on a high shot that nearly went over her head.

The second half saw much of the same as Saxony Lutheran senior goalkeeper Grace Ozark made a save at the top of the box on a breakaway and both goalies were nearly caught out of position moments later, but shots were pushed wide of the net.
Saxony coach Chris Crawford thought his team had chances, but didn’t play up to their potential in the game.
“I don’t think we have played our best soccer yet this season,” he said. “Today, there were spurts of it, but we didn’t play that way for a full game. We tried to make a hard schedule, but some of those teams that we thought would be better, were not. To be challenged and to have a game that could go either way is good for us. We needed that.”
However, the first team to make a mistake would likely lose, and unfortunately for Saxony that was their fate.
Cailyn Prost got behind the defense on a nice through pass for a breakaway and slotted it into the back of the net with six minutes left in regulation. Aubrey Emmendorfer did the same just two minutes later for an insurance goal for the Indians. Abigail Schilling and Callie Schnurbusch were credited with the assists.
Even though Saxony Lutheran is an impressive 8-3, Crawford feels like his team could have done some things better, but will not let a single game define them.
“We have bigger goals in mind and a game like this will only make us better,” he said.
For St. Vincent (8-4), they hope to have this game propel them forward.
“We want to take this win and use it as momentum,” Barnes said. “Hopefully it will do just that.”