EDWARDSVILLE – Anna Maxim, Grace Hughes, and Olivia Wolz all scored in the penalty shootout, while goalie Genny Burroughs made two critical saves as Edwardsville won the IHSA Class 3A girls soccer regional title over Belleville West 1-0 Friday evening, May 22, 2026, at Tiger Stadium.
The win advances the Tigers to the Normal Community sectional semifinal Tuesday night, where they will play O’Fallon, who won the Collinsville regional over Belleville East 2-0. The game will be played at 6 p.m. at a neutral site to be announced.
Edwardsville coach Justin Bernaix felt like it was a true playoff matchup, with both teams grinding it out, looking for the goal that would send them through to the sectional.
“It was a true playoff game,” Bernaix said. “I felt like we played well, especially in overtime. We really went for it. I felt we went for it the whole game, trying to get the winner without going to penalties. We defended really well; we didn’t allow a whole lot. I thought they were probably comfortable going to penalties, and that’s why we kept pushing. Their keeper, give Brooke (Stellhorn) credit; she made two big saves in the second overtime, right in the dying moments, but we were able to pull it out in penalties.”
The Tigers’ mindset going into the shootout was one of confidence and very upbeat.
“Confidence, confidence,” Bernaix said. “We’ve been preaching confidence the last few weeks, not just in penalties, but in everything we do. We practiced, got enough reps, and the girls went up, believing in themselves, and our keeper believed in herself, and her ability to get them, and she made a couple of big saves.”
Bernaix will go into the O’Fallon match the same way, with the confidence level high, but also is aware of what might happen next.
“Obviously, you never know what’s going to happen,” Bernaix said, “but we probably figured it was going to be O’Fallon, and that’s a fun matchup as well. It’s never easy playing a team three times, as you saw tonight, having to play Belleville West for a third time. There’s not much between O’Fallon and us; there’s only one goal they scored late, and it went to penalties again. I expect another tough test.”
In other words, more fun and games await the two teams on Tuesday, as the teams split their season series, both sides winning on the road by 1-0 scores, the Panthers winning at the deal in Edwardsville, while the Tigers returned the favor in a shootout at O’Fallon.
“One game at a time,” Bernaix said with a smile. “We’ve been in that mentality for the last couple of weeks, ever since Cor Jesu (an 8-2 win for the Chargers in south St. Louis County on May 8), which kind of set us back a little bit. We said, ‘Hey, we’re just trying to win one game at a time,’ and that’s what we’re doing. Next game up.”
For the Maroons’ part, the effort was there for the full 100 minutes.
“Oh, absolutely,” said West coach Jason Mathenia. “The girls did everything we asked them to do tonight.
The teams were feeling each other out during the first few minutes of the match, with Edwardsville having a slight edge and a couple of opportunities, but the Maroon defense was able to hold off the Tiger attacks. In the 20th minute, Thea Dimitroff had a good chance for Edwardsville, but her shot was stopped and cleared away. Late in the first half, both sides had good chances, but they went by the wayside. The Tigers still had the better of the play, but were unable to find the back of the net as the first half ended 0-0.
It was more of the same in the second half, but both teams couldn’t find the range, again Edwardsville having the better chances, but Stellhorn and her defense performed brilliantly, keeping the Tigers off the board as regulation ended 0-0, forcing 20 minutes of extra time.
Edwardsville had the better of the opportunities in extra time, especially in the second half, but Stellhorn dived out once to stop a promising cross, and also made a big save on an Edwardsville shot as extra time ended still scoreless, forcing the penalty shootout.
In the first round, Maxim scored while Burroughs dove to her left to stop the Maroons’ first shot. In round two, the Edwardsville shooter sent her try way over the top, while the West shot deflected off the left side goalpost and into the net to tie the shootout 1-1. Hughes scored to put the Tigers back on top 2-1, as Burroughs made another big save, but Stellhorn made a stop in round four as well to keep it 2-1. Wolz stepped up in round five and scored to put the outcome out of reach as the Tigers won the shootout 3-1 and the game 1-0 to advance.
The Tigers are now 14-3-2, and advance to the Normal Community sectional, where they’ll play O’Fallon Tuesday night at a site to be announced in a 6 p.m. kickoff. The winner plays the semifinal winner between the Minooka regional winner and Peoria Notre Dame Catholic in the round of 16 sectional final next Friday at 5 p.m. The sectional winner goes on to the super-sectional quarterfinal match against the winner of the Tinley Park Andrew sectional at Bloomington High School on June 1 at 6 p.m. The winner plays the winner of the River Forest Dominican University super-sectional in the first state semifinal game on June 5 at 5:30 p.m., with the third-place game set for June 6 at 11:30 a.m., and the state final kicking off at 7 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
