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ALTON - Fresh off an emphatic 8-0 victory against Southwestern on Tuesday, the Alton Lady Redbirds followed it up with yet another impressive performance on Thursday night as they hosted Belleville West at Public School Stadium. Alton dominated throughout the 80 minutes on their way to a 7-1 win.
Alton is now 5-0 on the young season.
Emily Baker led the line with a hat trick Thursday night, adding to her already impressive goal tally this season, now at eight in just five matches. Not to be outdone, her teammate Lindsey Miller added two goals. Lily Freer and Tori Schrimpf each had a goal.
Lily Freer only had 1 goal. So the correct scoring goal tally for the game is:
Redbird assists were by Lily Freer, Peyton Baker and Tori Schrimpf.
Belleville West’s lone goal came in the first half, as Carolyne Mathenia poked home a loose ball by the goal following a free kick on the edge of the area. At the time, the goal made it a 2-1 game, but the attack of the Lady Redbirds was simply too much for the visitors.
“Our offense has been a huge asset for us,” said Alton Head Coach Gwen Sabo-Howland following the match. “I was not expecting seven against a conference team, but I’ll take it any day of the week.”
Gwen Sabo-Howland wasn't expecting an easy result for her team tonight in conference play, but the attacking impetus of Alton was too overwhelming for the Maroons' back line. Sabo's Lady Redbirds pressed high up the field, forcing turnovers from the Belleville West defense and creating numerous opportunities for their playmakers to score.
“Very pleasantly surprised, I’m looking forward to seeing this group that we have,” Sabo-Howland said. “A lot of the starters this year were not even on the team last year, so for us being a relatively new team, we’ve definitely been finding our flow attacking.”
After a 2021 season where the Lady Redbirds finished a truncated schedule 3-13-0, 2022 is about raising the standard of Alton soccer to its previous heights for Gwen Sabo and her team.
“We set goals for ourselves at the beginning of every year,” Sabo-Howland stated postgame. “I think the girls who returned from last year, the ones who didn’t play last year, they knew of the results we had. They wanted to make sure people knew that wasn’t the standard at Alton, and they wanted to raise the bar. So far they’ve certainly done that.”
Next on the schedule for the Lady Redbirds is a tough matchup against O’Fallon, who is also perfect on the season at 5-0-0, just the same as Alton. That matchup will take place at Public School Stadium on March 29th, with kickoff at 6:45 p.m.
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