Bulldogs Take A Bite Out Of Wildcat Girls Soccer Team, 5-2 Win

ST. PETERS – With just two weeks left until the start of the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) playoffs, the varsity girls soccer teams at and Fort Zumwalt South high schools are two teams still searching to figure out exactly who they are.

Just in the last 10 days for example, West suffered one of its against rival Pattonville. Then after several days of rain-outs the Wildcats turned in one of its in an overtime win over St. Charles West.

South did a similar thing last week, knocking off Warrenton for a raucous 7-0 win on Tuesday, then losing a mistake-filled 3-2 decision against Alton Marquette on Friday.

On Monday evening though, at South’s Jack Ball Stadium, it was the home team that looked like a team that had figured some things out, nabbing a convincing 5-2 win against the visiting Wildcats.

“We’ve been really focusing on playing consistent,” South head coach Vernon Gano said. “We’ve been really shaky, kinda win-one, lose-one lately. We just want to play consistent the next couple of games.”

Monday’s performance was certainly a step in the right direction, as South play almost from the start and grabbed a big early lead thanks to two free kick smash goals by senior midfielder Kendra Clamors.

She got the Bulldogs on the board less than two minutes in, with a rocket shot from 20 yards out that beat West goalkeeper Alex Linck.

Clamors then added a second free kick strike, about six minutes later, again lifting a blast just under the crossbar that Linck had no chance on. The two scores were Clamors’ fifth and sixth goals of the season.

“Kendra can really shoot the ball,” Gano said. “I mean, when you’ve got a girl that can put the ball where she wants to, it makes it really hard to defend that. And she was lucky enough to put it in the right spot.”

That second South goal seemed to wake West up, as the Wildcats controlled the ball and kept it in South’s end for much of the next 15-18 minutes, including three point-blank chances in particular near the 20-minute mark that each narrowly missed finding the back of the South net.

The Bulldogs made those near-misses really sting with 13 minutes left in the half, when sophomore Renee Meyer scored her first varsity goal on a rebound shot following a corner kick by freshman Bridget Stewart.

“That’s kinda the way the whole season’s been going,” West head coach Jason Sellers said. “For some reason this year, we’ve given up a lot of early goals, and we’ve given up a lot of goals that are flukey. I feel for the girls because you can tell the frustration level is growing.”

One way to alleviate some of that frustration is to make a great play that leads to a score for your team. And that’s exactly what junior Rachael Hill did for West with 8 minutes left before halftime.

With South on the attack, Hill stole a pass and made a brilliant run up the left flank toward the Bulldog net.

Hill ran past one South defender and managed to spin past another, before setting up teammate Jenn Morris on a breakaway with a beautiful centering pass.

Morris knew exactly what to do. She calmly worked her way in, and smashed a shot past South goalkeeper Lauren Breshears, for her 10th goal of the season, to make the score 3-1.

“On turf, that’s a well-played ball,” Sellers said. “You have to put a certain pace on it, and Rachael did a good job laying it through there. And Jenn just walked in and scored. So that was nice.”

Another key play in the game came early in the second half, when South’s Stewart somehow turned a nothing play into a 4-1 Bulldog lead.

A misfired pass deep in the West end seemed too far for anyone to get to it before West’s Linck could. She even called off teammate Beth Clarkin, saying she would get to the ball first.

But Stewart wouldn’t be denied. She somehow got to the ball a split-second before Linck did, and managed to get enough foot on it that even though Linck got a hand on the shot, it still had enough left that it bounced into the net before Clarkin could clear it away.

The score was Stewart’s team-leading twelfth of the season.

West leading scorer Mariah Gove made her presence felt with 12 minutes left in the game, when she made a dazzling run through the left side of the box and smashed home her 16th goal of the season, to make it 4-2.

But that was as close as West would get, as almost fittingly, South’s Meyer added her second goal of the night, with eight minutes left to give the Bulldogs the win by their original three-goal margin.

“We just want to play consistent the next couple of games,” Gano said. “If we can figure out how to do that, then our record should be a little more on the positive side.”

South improved to 10-9 on the year, and will play two more games this week.

West fell to 10-8 this season. The Wildcats have two more games this week.

On Thursday, they’ll play at home against Riverview Gardens High, before closing the week with another road game at Fort Zumwalt West High in O’Fallon.