By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur
LAPLACE — This season has seen a young St. Charles girls soccer team deal with more than its share of growing pains. But, faced with a quality foe, everything came together for the Lady Comets Friday.
Sarah Clawson’s goal proved the difference in a match-deciding shootout as the Comets handed District 9-III foe Haynes only its second loss of the season, 2-1.
The match went into overtime in a 0-0 tie. After two overtime periods, the teams settled things through “PKs.”
Comets goalkeeper Julia Torres blocked the Yellow Jackets’ second PK attempt. Sarah Engnath scored SCC’s first goal.
Haynes won its first nine matches of the season before falling to Riverside last Friday and now St. Charles.
It was the first victory of the season for a Comets team that’s endured a midseason coaching change that came in addition to the departure of longtime coach Don Peyton prior to the school year.
“This was about a tremendous team effort, both offensively and defensively,” said St. Charles coach Eleno Rodriguez. “I felt like if we could just stay in the game, opportunities would arise for us.
“We didn’t convert on the scoring opportunities we had, but we were able to control the ball a lot more than we did in the first match (with Haynes) … Our players just gave a tremendous effort. We’re grateful for the opportunity and the result.”
The victory showed significant improvement from a Comets team that Haynes defeated decisively in the first round of district play. The Yellow Jackets defeated St. Charles 7-0 in that match.
Rodriguez gave credit teamwide, including praise of Torres and Kaitlyn Lemoine, one of the team’s top defenders.
“Kaitlyn directed our defensive effort. She led the way,” said Rodriguez. “Julia made a fantastic block in overtime and did a great job of keeping us in it.”
St. Charles left the game with a chance to even its district record with two final matches against St. Martin’s. One was scheduled to be played yesterday, after presstime, at St. Martin’s.
The final match will be played next Tuesday.
“Hopefully we can use this win to build some momentum,” said Rodriguez.
“It was a big win for us over an accomplished team.”쇓