GRANITE CITY – The Granite City-Edwardsville girls soccer matches always exhibit strong rivalry play and Thursday night, April 24, 2025, did not disappoint. The Warriors-Tigers contest ended in a 1-1 draw.
Granite City head coach Kenny Prazma praised the effort of his players and was satisfied with the draw.
Prazma said: “We had a game plan going in, it’s hard to match their talent all around. But we told them if they played hard, they can stick with anybody, and they did.
“They played a real good first half, and came out and played pretty good in the second half. Unfortunately, their goal scorer got away from us, and knocked one in. But the girls kept going, they didn’t get their heads down, and finally found the back of the net. It was a nice head ball from Aubree Briggs, and great service from Abby Knight. So actually, it’s a good 1-1 tie.”
Prazma was a member of Granite City’s boys soccer 1976 state championship team as a midfielder, so he is deeply ingrained in the community’s soccer culture.
Prazma also acknowledged the challenges his team has faced this season with limited depth. “We don’t have a lot of depth, like we usually do, but sometimes, when you do that, the girls have got to log a lot of minutes, and when they log a lot of minutes against good teams, they start to get tired. So, we’ve got to shuffle people around, and sometimes, they’re playing in positions they usually don’t play. So, the effort was tremendous.”
Looking ahead, Prazma remains optimistic about Granite City’s prospects.
“Well, if they keep playing like they did, I have really high hopes. I mean, if they could play this good here at Edwardsville, our regional is at our place (Gene Baker Field). So, we hope to go through the regional, and see what happens after that. As long as everyone stays healthy, we’re confident. We have a good team.”
With the result, Granite City improved to 4-4-5 and will face Alton Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., followed by home games against Belleville East Thursday and Marquette Catholic Friday, both starting at 6 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
