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ALTON – Roxana's girls soccer team knew that McGivney Catholic was going to give them a difficult battle in their IHSA Class 1A Marquette Catholic Regional semifinal match Tuesday at Gordon Moore Park.
“We knew McGivney would come out tough; they're very aggressive, they never give up off the ball,” said Shells coach Lori Yates following Roxana's 7-0 win over the Griffins that advanced them into Friday's regional final against the host Explorers. “They're quick; we knew that they would come out that way, so we had to come out with our 'A' game.
“Three goals in the first half helped us. We're down with a couple of injuries; I was a little short on subs today, but four more goals in the second half. Good for our girls; our very first game of the year, we scored five goals and we hadn't scored more than three goals the rest of the year, so it's good for us to get some goals in the back of the net.”
For the Griffins, Tuesday's match was their first-ever postseason match for the program, and for McGivney coach Tim Vance, he was looking on it as a learning experience for his side. “First postseason experience, first varsity season; we'll definitely learn from it and hopefully grow from it for next year.
“I thought we battled; the first 15 minutes were pretty even and we had a couple of chances, we just couldn't pop one in; every chance they had, they scored. That's the way soccer goes sometimes.”
Roxana finally broke through in the first half when Mykala Rosales scored off Griffin goalkeeper Nina Rodriguez about midway through the first half to put the Shells on top. Goals followed from Emma Lucas and Abby Kurth to put Roxana up 3-0 at halftime.
The Shells wasted no time in the second half in extending the lead, Brynn Huddleston putting Roxana up 4-0 with a goal, followed by scores from Brookelyn Trask and Lucas again to make it 6-0 in Roxana's favor. Katie Herndon scored the final goal late in the match to move the Shells into the final.
One highlight for the Griffins came when a penalty kick was called and Lucas stepped up to take it; Lucas shot high to the left side, but Rodriguez got there and knocked the ball away.
The Shells improved to 11-5-2 on the year; the Griffins were eliminated at 4-13.
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