by Ben Timson

 

The Lady Irish Soccer team opened the 2024 season at the Bluefish Invitational hosted by Rolla High School March 15th-16th. The event was a four-team round robin tournament with Catholic, Rolla, St. Francis Borgia and Pacific High Schools competing for the championship plaque. It was a grueling weekend for the girls as they played three games within twenty hours including playing back-to-back games on Saturday following a Friday evening match. The girls were up to the task however, and after the final whistle blew, they returned to Springfield as champions.

 

Catholic won the opening match on Friday 4-0 against Rolla. Senior Maddie Meyer scored the first goal, assisted by Olivia Swisshelm, on a beautiful thirty-yard shot. Three goals in the second half, scored by Izzie Belz, Campbell Morgan and Olivia Swisshelm sealed the first win of the season. The Irish won their second game against Borgia 3-0 with three first half goals coming from Izzie Belz, Peyton Wiseman and Liz Beecher with assists by Peyton Wiseman, Izzy Hoerschgen and Campbell Morgan.

 

The win against Borgia set up a championship match with Pacific in the final game. Both teams entered the match with two wins and no loss, but by virtue of the two Irish shutout wins (Pacific had defeated Borgia 5-0 and Rolla 5-2), the Irish would win the tournament with a win or a tie, whereas Pacific needed to win the game to become champions. Both teams battled to win throughout the match but with tired legs and strong defences on both sides the game ended in a 0-0 draw and Irish won the plaque.

 

The Irish defense was stellar throughout the weekend not allowing a single goal over the three-game stretch. The back line of Maggie Mahaffey, Alice Farmer, Kennedi Roubal, and Grace Hoerschgen with strong minutes from Aden Brown played well as a unit keeping opponents' scoring opportunities to a minimum. Anything that penetrated the defense was cleaned up by Haley Brown who recorded three shutouts to open her senior season in goal.