EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's field hockey team celebrated Senior Night against St. Joseph's of St. Louis County at Tiger Stadium Wednesday night.
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The Tigers seemed to have everything going their way down the stretch, thanks to a Mattie Norton goal from Rachel Goebel with 1:18 to go in regulation that forced overtime; during the overtime, the Tigers nearly scored in a scramble in front of the Angel goal off a short-corner that was cleared out.
St. Joe's went on a quick counterattack and found Joni Halliday, who tucked the ball into the goal at 64:18 to give themselves a 3-2 win over EHS, sending Edwardsville to a 7-11-2 mark on the season and taking the Angels to 9-6-1.
When it comes to close games, Edwardsville hasn't had the best of luck coming away with the win this season; the Tigers practiced earlier in the week on situations they would face in OT, in which teams have just seven players on the field, six field players and a goaltender.
“We've been practicing a lot this week with seven players, with six players, and they've had to score a goal to earn another player,” said Tiger coach Jaimee Phegley. “They're ready for when we have that smaller setting; unfortunately, the teams we've had overtime with, they've had some of the top players in the (area).
“Annie Genovese (of St. Joe's) had 16 goals coming into this game and so that one person has been able to catch us off our mark. We had a beautiful (short-) corner (prior to the Halliday goal) – I was really happy with that, they just didn't finish in there.”
Edwardsville had taken an early lead thanks to a Goebel goal from Natalie Nava at 9:48, but the Angels had scored twice in the second half from Genovese at 36:06 to draw level with EHS and then from Maddie Anderson at 45:01 to pull ahead. Undaunted, the Tigers kept coming and put pressure on the Angels, leading to Norton's tying goal at 58:42.
“That was nice,” Phegley said of Norton's tying goal. “I knew they had it in them; we had a lot of shooting opportunities. I felt they came out strong and they played through the game, so I'm happy with that.”
Senior Night ceremonies took place prior to the start of the varsity game; Phegley was concerned about how the Tigers would react at the start of the game, but especially with her seniors, she needed have worried.
“This group of seniors, I think, is really good about disconnecting (the hoopla of the pre-game ceremony) – like the Stick Up for Hunger game, which we have a lot going on – they disconnected from that to focus on their game.”
Focus they have all year; the number of close losses is no indication of how good the Tigers have been, Phegley felt. “I don't think our record is indicative of the way we've been playing,” Phegley said. “Unfortunately, we lost and it goes in that losing column; I hope it doesn't affect us with the rankings going into the (season-ending) Midwest (Tournament) next week – the numbers just aren't matching the performance.”
The Tigers hit the road for their final two regular-season games, heading to Ladue to play MICDS Friday and Ladue Horton Watkins High Monday; both games begin at 4:15 p.m. before the Midwest Tournament gets under way for EHS.
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