Hazelwood West Girls Soccer Stuns St. Charles West in Overtime, Knocks the Team's 11-1 Record

ST. CHARLES -- For most of the 80 minutes of regulation time during Wednesday's girls varsity soccer match at St. Charles West's Steve Stahl Stadium, the host Warriors set the pace and controlled the action against visiting .

The same could be said for the first five minutes of overtime, as St. Charles West had at least three solid scoring chances that could've won the game against the Wildcats.

But in the sixth minute of overtime, it was Hazelwood West that made the play that mattered, with junior Ashley Geist blasting a shot that St. Charles West goalkeeper Miranda Pierce couldn’t get a handle on. It rolled into the back of the Warrior net, for a stunning 1-0 Wildcat victory.

“I hate going into overtime,” Geist said. “Coach Mayes always drills it into our heads that we have to finish every opportunity and take advantage of those. And we obviously didn’t get that many in the game. So I had to finish the one I had.”

And boy did she ever, taking a centering pass from teammate Jenn Morris, and battled two St. Charles West defenders before she was freed.

Once in the clear, Geist let loose with a right-footed blast that might’ve been the hardest hit ball of the entire game.

But as Hazelwood West's luck seemed to go throughout the whole contest, a St. Charles West defender was there to knock Geist's shot down.

Fortunately for the Wildcats though, the tide was about to turn, as the ball bounded back to Geist, who cleared more space, then let rip with another blast toward the St. Charles West goalfront.

This time, the blast got through, and even though Pierce got her hands on the wet, slick ball, she couldn't corral it. Geist's shot slipped through the Warrior goalkeeper's hands and bounced over the backline for the only goal of the game, and Geist's sixth of the season.

"I just kept telling the girls to keep pushing forward because the wind was keeping them from clearing the ball," Hazelwood West assistant coach Steve Mayes said. "On a slick, wet field (Geist took) a hard, solid shot and the keeper coughed it up a little bit. Just a great win for us."

Mayes took over head coaching duties on Wednesday because of a death in the family for head coach Jason Sellers, he said.

And as he stated, a fantastic win is what it was, especially considering how close St. Charles West came to winning the contest in regulation time.

In the first half, the Warriors had several chances, including a 25-yard bomb from junior Brandi Van Booven that beat Wildcat keeper Alex Linck, but somehow hit the crossbar and bounced over the net.

On another play, a St. Charles West free kick somehow got through the Hazelwood West goalmouth and seemed headed into the empty net.

But Wildcat senior defender Elizabeth Clarkin, who appeared almost out of nowhere, met the ball at the goalline, and somehow managed to clear it away before it crossed the line for a score that would've given St. Charles West the win.

"That was huge for us," Mayes said. "I thought we had a better first half than St. Charles West, and then to let them drop one in there at the end of the half would have been a heartbreaker. We were lucky to clear the ball."

Linck, who was making her first start in net in two weeks, after losing her starting job to teammate Cassie McMillin, was just fantastic in goal for the Wildcats.

The freshman standout, who was a star on the Wildcat softball team last fall, was officially credited with just three saves, but she must've stopped at least 14 St. Charles West scoring chances over the course of the game, either by taking the ball away or knocking passes down, which allowed Hazelwood West its chance for the overtime heroics.

"Attitude helped us out today," Mayes said. "We've had some ups and downs this year, and we lost 4-1 to St. Charles West earlier in the season. But we came ready to play today, and we beat a real good team."

 St. Charles West came into Wednesday's contest with an 11-1 record, and were ranked No. 2 among small school teams in the most recent top 10 girls soccer poll.

The Warriors are now 11-2, but still hold sole possession of first place in the GAC North.

"We just have to play our game better and play faster and not get down on ourselves," St. Charles West head coach Andrew Reynolds said. "We had one other loss against Zumwalt West, and we bounced back and took it out on Howell Central the next day. Hopefully we can come out tomorrow and take it out on Warrenton."

Hazelwood West is now 9-7 on the season.