EDWARDSVILLE – Analise Sampson was credited with the only goal of the game in Granite City’s 1-0 win over Edwardsville on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium, as a free kick taken by Sampson in the 60th minutes deflected off a maze of players and went past the outstretched arms of the Edwardsville goalie into the back of the net to give the Warriors the game-winning goal.
“All three of my coaches told me to pick the six-yard line, and aim for that,” Sampson said in a post-match interview, “so hopefully, they can get a deflection, and they did get the deflection. So, I guess, I shot it, it hit someone and it went in.”
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It was a very tough, hard-fought defensive battle for the most part, and the goal allowed the Warriors to break a long-standing losing streak against Edwardsville.
“Yeah, after nine years, you know, we haven’t beaten them in nine years,” Sampson said, “and so, it was a relief to finally win, competitively and have fun while we’re at it.”
Sampson is the kind of player who goes all out in every match and feels that she’s been playing a very decent season thus far.
“I mean, I think I’ve been playing decent,” Sampson said, “I give 110 percent every game. I think that’s the most important part about soccer, is to give it your all, and just win the ball as much as you can.”
Sampson is very excited for the start of the IHSA Class 3A playoffs coming soon and thinks that Warriors are starting to come together after a midseason slump that came after a very good start.
“Well, from the beginning, we had a good start,” Sampson said, “but then, it went down, and then finally, this past couple of weeks and games, we’ve really stepped it up and played collectively as a team and won some games.”
And going into the start of the postseason, Sampson is liking the Warriors chances of enjoying success.
“I think we have a pretty good chance,” Sampson said. “Like I said, we’ve been playing together, we’ve been moving the ball around, getting shots as much as we can. I think we have a decent chance. Just super excited for regionals, sectionals, and hopefully, to win state.”
