GRANITE CITY – Edwardsville’s girls soccer team may not necessarily have been thinking of getting back a Quincy when the pairings were released for this year’s IHSA Class 3A Granite City Regional.
But at the same time, the Tigers more than likely didn’t forget that the Blue Devils had dispatched them the year before in their regional opener, coming from behind to oust Edwardsville 3-2.
“Last year was kind of last year,” said Tiger coach Abby Comerford. “The girls definitely wanted to win this year, kind of thinking that we lost last year.”
Revenge factor or not, the Tigers certainly avenged their loss last year to the Blue Devils, getting goals from Mallory Mushill, Ashlin West and Abby Crabtree to advance to Friday’s regional final with a 3-1 win over the Blue Devils at Granite City’s Gene Baker Field.
Edwardsville will face the host Warriors at 6 p.m. Friday for the regional title and a spot in the Normal Community Sectional; Granite eliminated Belleville West in a penalty shootout after ending regulation and extra time level at 2-2. The Warriors won the shootout 5-4 in six rounds.
“We played really well tonight,” Comerford said. “Today was one of our few games on grass, so I think everyone played really well.”
Facing the Warriors on their grounds will be a difficult test for the Tigers. “Granite City and Belleville West played a tough game,” Comerford said. “We’ve just got to prepare Friday now; it will be a good challenge for us.”
“Edwardsville’s a great team; Abby does a great job with them,” said Quincy coach Travis Dinkheller. “They’ve got some really nice players; we wanted to come and disrupt the flow that they create and not give up so many restarts. That became our Achilles’ heel tonight.
“They got a lot of good opportunities off of restarts, but our girls battled. We’re a young team and I was pleased with the way we battled. We got a goal back right before (halftime), had a couple of other chances
It took 13 minutes for the Tigers to get on the board, Mushill scoring off a goal-mouth scramble when the ball came to her; she was able to put it past Quincy goalkeeper Michaela Cowman, and the goal seemed to give Edwardsville some confidence. “Once we got that first goal, getting a couple of more goals was something we were wanting to do. Getting that third goal and going up 3-1, that was a big help.”
West got the second goal for the Tigers in the 38th minute when she scored off a rebound to put Edwardsville up 2-0. In the 40th minute, however, the Tigers were whistled for a foul in the penalty area and Quincy was awarded a penalty kick, which Schay Mulhurin converted to send the match 2-1 in Edwardsville’s favor into the half.
Crabtree restored the two-goal lead in the 58th minute when she took a ball played into the goal area and tucked it away; the Tigers held off the Blue Devils the rest of the way to win the match.
Grace Niedhart and Lexi Grote had goals for the Warriors in the opener, while Taylor Mathenia and Addison Hanusek (off a corner kick at the hour) goaled for the Maroons. The match stayed level the remainder of regulation time and through two 10-minute halves of extra time to force the shootout, which ended when Abby Reeves scored for the Warriors while Melanie Kulig put her attempt off the goalpost to the right to send Granite into the final.
The win was EHS’ 15th on the trot, taking their record to 18-2-1 on the year; Quincy was eliminated at 9-10-3. The Warriors went to 9-6-4 with their win over West, while the Maroons were eliminated at 10-9-2.
