LAPLACE — Practice makes perfect.

A lot of coaches believe that, including St. Charles Catholic girls soccer coach Travis Trepagnier.

While the Lady Comets weren’t perfect this season, they were better than they have ever been before.

The team finished the season with a record of 17-3-1 and won District 6-IV with a perfect 6-0 record (including a sweep of their cross-town rival, Riverside).

While the goal this season was to get a home playoff game, the Lady Comets got so much more.

St. Charles earned the No. 2 seed in the Division IV bracket, which gave them a first round bye and another meeting against Riverside. The Lady Comets won that one too, sending them to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

There, they beat No. 7 seed Menard, 2-0, to get to the semifinals for the first time in school history.

Their incredible season ended there, in the rain, with a 2-0 loss to Country Day.

“Our goal was to get one playoff game at home and we ended up getting three,” Trepagnier said. “Now we’ve got to set new goals and set them higher. There’s only one more step — to make it to the ‘ship.”

With players like sophomore Eden Simoneaux and freshman Colette Rainey, the Lady Comets have a good chance.

Simoneaux is the Offensive Player of the Year, just as she was selected by the coaches in her district. A slew of injuries had the sophomore playing all over the field. She scored 12 goals and had 13 assists during the season.

“The only position she didn’t play was goalie, and if we asked her to she would,” Trepagnier said. “She’s just a versatile player that we can put around the field.”

Simoneaux said the season was special for all of her teammates.

“We started to get a lot more attention (at school),” she said. “They had a Mass for us before the playoff game, so that was really special. We went the furthest in history. It’s amazing to be able to be a part of a team that went so far.”

Colette Rainey is just a freshman, but she was a defensive force on the field, earning Defensive Player of the Year honors with more than 100 tackles/steals.

“Colette is a wall,” Trepagnier said.

“I’ve never met a person who can go up against Colette and get by her with ease. If she gets by her, maybe Colette’s just sick and dying. It’s a rare occasion.”

It all added up to a special season at St. Charles Catholic.

Trepagnier, a St. Charles alum and former player who is now in his fourth year as the head coach, said it had a lot to do with what the ladies did at practice.

“It’s the most important thing,” he said. “You’ve got to do the work. The first year I was here, we might have averaged eight people at practice. Now we average over 20 at practice every day. That’s so beneficial to having competition every day, playing against everybody.

“You’re only as good as your last game, so, with the mistakes we made there, we’ve got to regroup and start anew.”