COLLINSVILLE – Edwardsville girls soccer senior captain Emma Sitton had the first goal of the match in the Tigers’ 2-1 win in the regular season finale over Collinsville at Kahok Stadium. But the biggest goal of the match was Rileigh Kuhns’ winner right before full time. Kuhns has had a knack of scoring big last-second goals at Collinsville, and Sitton is amazed by her teammate’s timing.
“Yes, she’s done it a couple of years in a row, now,” Sitton said in an interview following the match. “She always gets it to, like, the last minute. Makes us a nervous wreck, but she pulls through, and gets it out for us.”
Sitton’s first-half goal was a result of an Edwardsville build-up that resulted in a bit of a scramble in the middle of the Collinsville box.
“It was just kind of a build-up in the middle,” Sitton said. “We got into the box, there was a little bit of a scramble, it popped out, I took my touch, and I shot it.”
Sitton shot it right into the back of the net to give Edwardsville a 1-0 lead at the time.
The Tigers finished the regular season at 12-8-0, 9-1 in the Southwestern Conference, and the Tigers made history by becoming the first Edwardsville team to outright win the conference title. Sitton knows that being the outright champions is a big feather in their caps.
“Yeah, it’s a great feeling,” Sitton said. “We’ve really put in a lot of work this season to make that happen, so I think it’s well deserved.”
Edwardsville now goes into the IHSA Class 3A playoffs, starting with a regional semifinal against Belleville West on May 15 at Tiger Stadium, with a potential final on May 17 against the winner of Granite City and Collinsville. Sitton thinks that her team’s chances are very good, indeed.
“I’m pretty confident in our team,” Sitton said, “and I’m just hoping for the best.”
And looking back on the regular season, Sitton had one thing pop into her mind when asked what she’ll remember most about the season.
“The best memory so far is just being Southwestern Conference champs,” Sitton said. “I think that’s a huge accomplishment for us, and it’s made history.”
