Hazelwood West Girls Soccer Can't Hold Off Second-Ranked Incarnate Word Academy

Most anyone watching the first half of Friday’s girls varsity soccer game between host and visiting Incarnate Word Academy (IWA) would’ve thought it was the Wildcats that were ranked No. 2 in the most recent top 10 poll.

West dictated the action in the first half. They controlled the ball for most of the period. And they didn’t allow IWA hardly any scoring chances at all in the first 40 minutes.

In fact, it was because the Wildcats were so much more aggressive that they were able to grab and hold a 1-0 lead at the intermission.

But in the second half, IWA made sure everyone knew who the No. 2 team in the area was, scoring four goals in a dominant final 40 minutes to hand the Wildcats a 4-1 home loss.

“I believe that was our fourth game this week, and we just played the No. 1 team in the country (Liberty, MO) last Friday,” IWA head coach Annie Beekman said. “So it’s a constant challenge to try and concentrate and be really ready to play every game. Especially after a stretch like that.”

The schedule challenges have been even tougher than Beekman gives her team credit for. IWA has in fact played six games in the last nine days, all against opponents with winning records.

And much to their credit, the Red Devils won four of them.

“They’re a great team, there’s no doubt,” West High head coach Jason Sellers said. “That is the first time that I've been around here, in 10 years I think, that we've held a lead against Incarnate.

"That's a nice little accomplishment, but at the same time, this group of girls is a proud group, and that is really nothing that satisfies them right now.”

West High was able to grab that lead thanks to aggressive ball movement late in the first half.

Senior Ashley Geist led a charge down the field that eventually forced a Hazelwood West throw-in from deep in IWA territory.

The ball found its way to West’s Kaley Hill, who delivered a perfect pass back to Geist just outside the IWA net.

And Geist, who narrowly missed a shot wide right earlier in the half, didn’t miss this one, and lofted her 12th goal of the year over IWA goalkeeper Jamie Helfer’s outstretched hand, and give the Wildcats that 1-0 lead.

“Just a beautiful job by everybody right there,” Sellers said.

But the beauty in the day ended for West High less than a minute into the second half, when IWA’s McKenzie Combs fired a somersault throw-in pass to the front of the Wildcat goal, which somehow made it through a sea of arms and legs and into the back of the net.

“The official on that side told me he thought it hit one of the (West) players and went in,” Beekman said.

However it was that that ball found its way into West’s net, it opened the floodgates for IWA.

About 10 minutes later, IWA’s Mel Donaldson gave her team the lead, when she scored her seventh goal of the season, on a blast from about 25 yards out that made the score 2-1 Red Devils.

About eight minutes after that, IWA’s Katie Skrivan lined up a free kick from about 40 yards out and unleashed a rocket that sailed over Linck’s head and just underneath the crossbar for a brilliant goal that made it 3-1.

West’s Jenn Morris almost got one goal back with about nine minutes left, but Helfer was able to corral her blast from the left side of the box with relative ease.

IWA put the game away with just under seven minutes left, when Maddie Orf knocked in a header off a Skrivan corner kick that provided the final score of the night.

“We won’t make any excuses for how we played in the first half,” Beekman said. “But I did talk to the girls at halftime about attitude and effort. Those are things we can control. And I wanted to see some improvement in our attitude and effort in the second half.”

Needless to say, the IWA coach got what she wanted.

Her Red Devils are now 12-5-1, and with a first-round playoff bye, will wait to see who they will face in the Class 3 District 5 semifinals, today.

Hazelwood West finishes the regular season with a 13-10 mark, and will begin its playoff run today, when it faces McCluer North in the Class 3 District 6 semifinals.

That game is set for a 5:30 p.m. opening kickoff, and will be played at the Florissant Civic Center.