GRANITE CITY - The Warriors' girls soccer team has had one of the best seasons in recent memory, largely in part to a tremendous senior class.
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Granite City currently sits at 11-2-1 on the season following a 2-2 tie against Marquette Catholic Tuesday night (May 2).
The Explorers knocked in two goals in quick succession to go ahead 2-0 at the half on the Warriors' Senior Night.
Senior captain Ella Hickam and her team weren't going to give up though.
"In the first half, we were just not all on the same page," Hickam said of her team's play early on.
"Our communication just wasn't there, but then we went into the second half, we said let's play like we know we should, communicate, play simple passes, and keep them on their half."
That's what they did as the Warriors rallied back to tie the game back up at 2-2.
For her determination on Senior Night, Ella Hickam is a Stillwater Senior Living Athlete of the Month for the Warriors.
Still, Hickam agreed that the tie was a little disappointing for the occasion.
This result followed a massive 4-3 win over the O'Fallon Panthers on Saturday, April 29.
"It was definitely awesome," Hickam said on Saturday's win.
"We really put it on them with three goals in the first half. We did get a little tired in the second half but we finished it out as a team."
She scored a goal in the first half of that game to boost the score to 2-0 early on. The Warriors led by as much as 4-1 with O'Fallon's rally coming up just short.
That was Hickam's third goal this season to go along with seven assists in the central midfield.
Depending on who you ask, you'll get different answers on whether or not the team expected to have this kind of successful season. It was a bit of surprise to Hickam.
"In my opinion, yeah. We only lost three seniors last year so it was basically the same group coming in. We just really gelled together this season and came out really strong."
Now her team has just three regular season games reaming with a simple goal for the playoffs.
"We're just going to go as far as we can," Hickam said. "I think we'll be ready."
Her team is seeded No. 3 in the Quincy Sub-Sectional and will take on the hosting No. 5 Blue Devils in the Regional Semifinals on May 16 at 6 p.m.
When Hickam's high school career comes to an end, she will move on to play at the University of Missouri-St. Louis where she plans to study Physical Education.
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