EDWARDSVILLE – For the second match in a row in this young girls' soccer season, Edwardsville scored three goals in a win.
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This time, the Tigers needed all three of them as Springfield kept coming after them.
In the end, however, the Tigers hung on to take a 3-2 win over the Senators in a semifinal match of the Metro Girls Cup tournament at Tiger Stadium Friday evening. Edwardsville moved into the championship match against the O'Fallon-Waterloo winner; it's scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday in Edwardsville.
The two big goals for EHS came from the Crabtree sisters, Abby scoring in the 42nd minute and Jane Ann in the 67th minute, which pleased Edwardsville coach Abby Comerford.
“The Crabtrees have been getting the goals for us so far,” Comerford said; both of them had connected in the Tigers' 3-0 win over Belleville East Wednesday evening. “We're off to a good start; getting a couple of wins under our belt is a good thing.
“Our defense worked pretty hard tonight. We got up on their offense and moved on them. We've still got some things to clean up on, especially our first and second touches with the ball, but it's good to get some rust off our shoes.”
“It's early, but we played pretty well,” said Senators' coach Patrick Phillips. “We didn't get as many possessions as I would have liked, but Edwardsville's one of the top (Class) 3A teams in the state. Being in this tournament and facing the competition we are here will definitely help us later on.”
Both teams had good chances to score early on, but just missed on a couple of them. It wasn't until the 18th minute when Sameena Koirala found the back of the net for Senators on a shot in front of the goal that beat EHS goalkeeper Lauren Serfas and gave Springfield a 1-0 lead. The Tigers didn't wait long to counter, Ashlin West scoring past Senator netminder Kalynn Clearwater in the 19th minute to tie proceedings.
The scores remained level until the 42nd minute, when Abby Crabtree knocked home a shot past Clearwater to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead, and extended it to 3-1 when, on a free kick near the penalty area, Jane Ann Crabtree hammered a left-foot drive that Clearwater had no chance on, putting the Tigers ahead at 3-1.
Back came the Sens when, in the 72nd minute, Brooke Ridley gathered the ball some 40 yards from goal and fired a shot that got past Serfas into the net to cut the lead to 3-2. After that, the Tigers clamped down and never gave Springfield a chance to draw level and force extra time.
The win put the Tigers at 2-0 for the season; Springfield fell to 1-1.
