COLLINSVILLE – Brianna Hatfield has become one of the leaders for Alton's girls soccer team this season.
“I'm happy with how we played, even though the results didn't show,” Hatfield, a junior, said following the Redbirds' 4-1 loss to Collinsville on the road Thursday night; the loss put Alton at 7-2-1 on the year. “I really think we can compete with these girls. Even though it was a 4-1 loss, we still stuck with them the whole time.”
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Hatfield had Alton's only goal of the match, the score coming in the 20th minute after the Kahoks had taken a 2-0 lead early in the first half. “I just saw open space on the right flank,” Hatfield said of her goal, “and I took my space and the shot was open; it happened to go in.”
Hatfield has a team-leading 11 goals on the season with two assists for 24 points; four of her goals have been match-winners. “I've been playing since I could walk,” Hatfield said of her experience in the game; she began playing for AUFC in Alton and currently plays club soccer for St. Louis Scott-Gallagher.
Being a part of Alton High's program has had many good parts. “Being around all the girls and the motivation keeps rising every year,” was what Hatfield said when asked what the best part of being with the Redbird program was. “That's really good to be around, such a motivating group of girls. It's been good this year and last year and next year, I'll bet we're just keep getting better; like this game shows, we're improving.”
When asked how good the Redbirds can be the rest of the way, “our record shows we're obviously improving; I still think we have stuff to prove and we're just going to keep getting better,” Hatfield said.
The Redbirds travel north St. Louis County for a match against Trinity Catholic at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, then head to Columbia for a 6:30 p.m. April 24 match against the Eagles before hosting Breese Mater Dei at 4:30 p.m. April 25 at Piasa Motor Fuels Field.
