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EDWARDSVILLE – Goals from Ezri Beckmann, Emma Sitton and Kiara Delgado helped give Edwardsville's girls soccer team a 3-0 win over Marquette Catholic Wednesday afternoon at EHS' Tiger Stadium in a match that was moved to Edwardsville after recent rains made the field at Gordon Moore Park unplayable.
The Tigers went to 5-2-2 on the season with the win, while the Explorers fell to 5-4-0 for the year.
“Marquette's always a fun game to play,” said Tiger coach Abby Federmann. “They work very hard and we came out using today to move some girls around in different positions and try to find a cohesiveness that we didn't have last night (in a 2-1 Southwestern Conference loss to Belleville East); we focused on possessing the ball a little bit more, switching the field and just having some calm and confidence.
“I think they did that; we struggled with getting it in the back of the net, but they never stopped trying, so that was good.”
The goals the Tigers scored did come at opportune times for them. “We wanted to go into the half up,” Federmann said. “We didn't want to go into the half 0-0, so getting that (Beckmann) goal and following it up with Kiara Delgado's first goal, which is awesome, and Sitton had a nice little rocket to the corner (for EHS' second goal), which was good.”
“I thought our girls did a good job competing and staying in a spot where, if you can make one play yourself, you can get yourself back in the game,” said Explorer coach Brian Hoener. “That second one (from Sitton) kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit, and I think we deflated a little bit, but it was a great challenge for us today.
“Edwardsville's a good team, they have good speed, they go to goal very well, they very well-coached, so we really challenged our girls to try to match the intensity level and effort; I was pleased – I thought we really played hard. At times, I thought we didn't play our best soccer, but I did think we played hard. We can take some positives out of today's game.”
Beckmann's goal came in the 36th minute when she beat Explorer goalkeeper Lauren Fischer when she took a pass from Libby Doak and found the back of the net with her shot; Sitton extended the lead to 2-0 in the 64th minute when she hit the net with a blast that Fischer couldn't get to and Delgado closed out the scoring in the 72nd minute off an assist from Danielle Greathouse. Regan Windau recorded the clean sheet for the Tigers on the day.
Next up for Edwardsville is a 1 p.m. Saturday home match against Normal Community and a 6:30 p.m. Monday home match against Triad; the Explorers are scheduled to host Roxana in a 4:30 p.m. match today at Gordon Moore Park before taking on East Alton-Wood River at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, also at Gordon Moore Park.
