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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's girls soccer team is optimistic about the upcoming season – a season that gets under way at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Tiger Stadium when EHS meets Springfield in an opening-round match of the Metro Girls Cup tournament's Adidas bracket.
The Tigers finished 2015 with a 15-5-2 mark, a season that ended unexpectedly early when Quincy eliminated EHS in a opening-round match of the IHSA Class 3A Edwardsville Regional, scoring twice in the final minutes in a 3-2 outcome.
EHS coach Abby Comerford is looking to the start of the season, but how the year goes depends on how well the team plays on the field. “Everything always depends on how (the team) plays and how they come out ready to play along with the other team,” Comerford said. “We're going to try out a little different formation this year, but we're hoping for a great season.”
The Tigers return six seniors to this year's side, including long-time back Jane Ann Crabtree. “It's going to be a team that really works together; that's what we're focusing on this year,” Crabtree said when asked what kind of team the Tigers will be this year. “We're going to be a really close-knit team and it's really going to be hard to leave.
“(Team chemistry) is always important to winning games and winning as a team.”
The Tigers have a goal of reaching this year's IHSA Class 3A state tournament, and Crabtree is looking forward to achieving that goal. “That is definitely one of our goals this year,” Crabtree said, “and we're really looking forward getting there.”
That the season gets under way this week with the Metro Girls Cup is a good thing; the Tigers will be facing quality competition right from the start. “I'm really excited about getting to our first game,” Crabtree said. “We scrimmaged (Wednesday) and it looked really good, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes Monday.”
“That's always the goal; you want to have a long run in the postseason,” Comerford said. “That is definitely still our goal and hopefully we can get there.”
While the Tiger defenders should be a mainstay of the side, the ability to score goals will also be an important part of EHS' overall game. “We have a couple of different scorers,” Comerford said. “Abigail Crabtree is a junior this year (Jane Ann's sister); she'll be up there. Jocelyn Wagner is coming in, returning as a sophomore, she'll be up there.
“We have a freshman, Emma Sitton, who will be playing some forward; Allison Blume will be up there; she's a returning senior. There's all kinds of different players who will be up there.”
The schedule is not an easy one, starting with the Metro Girls Cup teams Edwardsville will be facing, and then there's the Southwestern Conference teams. “All the teams in the area are great,” Comerford said. “Collinsville and Triad – you know, we never really have an easy game; especially (the Southwestern) conference. Conference is never really an easy game at all.
“There's no gimmies in (the SWC) play, and that's good. You never want play teams that you beat 5-0, 6-0; you don't get better that way.”
The Tigers open league play at Kahok Stadium against Collinsville, who finished fourth in Class 3A last year, March 24, with the home league opener coming March 29 against Belleville West. Other schedule highlights include non-league clashes against Triad April 11 and Belleville Althoff April 12 and a match against Class 1A champion Rochester May 4; the postseason is slated to begin May 17. Other SWC home matches are against Granite City April 26 and O'Fallon May 10.
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