BETHALTO – It wasn’t the start the Eagles were looking for but ended up being the result they wanted after a back-and-forth non-conference matchup against the Father McGivney Griffins Saturday morning at Hauser Field. Civic Memorial won the contest 3-2 over Father McGivney.

Civic Memorial came back twice to tie the game up and eventually went ahead in the 74th minute thanks to a penalty kick awarded after a handball.

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Senior midfielder Aubree Wallace stepped up to take the spot kick and put it away to give her team its first lead of the day.

That goal would be the final blow as the Eagles improve to 4-1 on the season. The Griffins fall to 1-3-1.

It was McGivney’s freshman midfielder Natalie Beck who got things started just 60 seconds in with a goal into the bottom left corner.

It took nearly a half hour, but CM bounced back. Sophomore midfielder Brooke Harris delivered a corner kick toward the back post in the 27th minute. It went straight to junior forward Abrianna Garrett who headed it in to tie the game back up.

The Griffins regained the lead not even two minutes later when freshman midfielder Erin Kretzer scored after a good passing play from McGivney.

The Griffins went into the halftime break with a 2-1 lead.

Coming back onto the field Garrett had a poor angle shot go off the post in the 57th minute. A few moments later freshman defender Delaney Griffin tied the game back up once again.

It seemed as if the game was going to play out to a 2-2 draw, but a lucky bounce for CM saw them awarded a penalty late in the game. Wallace put through her seventh goal of the season, her first game-winner of the year.

“Aubree does what she does. PKs in practice, she doesn’t miss,” CM head coach Eric Zyung said postgame.

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Down by a goal twice throughout the game, the Eagles managed to come back each time, something coach Zyung loved to see.

“They battled back, they never get up,” he said about his girls.

This is now the CM’s third win in a row as they head into next week full of momentum which they’ll need when they open up Mississippi Valley Conference play against Waterloo and Highland.

“These are the kind of games you need going into conference,” Zyung added.

On the other side, McGivney head coach Matthew McVicar knew that his team caught some unlucky breaks.

“That’s the way the game goes,” he said. “Don’t take anything away from CM, they earned the win. Yeah, we had some things not go our way, but that’s the way soccer goes.”

“Not the result we want, but I’m happy with the way we played,” McVicar added.

This loss to CM comes off the back of a 1-0 win at home against Freeburg, a game that was played in some cold and rainy conditions, taking quite a bit out of McVicar’s side.

He mentioned that Saturday’s contest was the Griffins’ third game of the week and that his girls had some heavy legs.

Father McGivney will rest Sunday before starting again on Monday when they head to Columbia at 5 p.m. They open conference play against Metro-East Lutheran and Marquette Catholic next week as well.

As for the Eagles, they’ll play at Waterloo on Tuesday, March 28 with a 5:45 p.m. kick-off.

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