Saxony Lutheran girls soccer team wins first district title

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- For the Saxony Lutheran girls soccer team, the third time was the charm.

After coming up short in district play the past two seasons, the Crusaders earned the Class 1 District 1 championship with a tense 1-0 victory over St. Vincent on Thursday at the Perryville Soccer Complex.

The Crusaders advanced to the Class 1 state quarterfinals against The Principia of St. Louis at a date and time to be determined.

"We always come up to the big time, and we're almost there, but it never pays off for us," said Saxony junior midfielder Grace Mirly, who scored the game's lone goal with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first half. "But now that we're here, and we made it, we're just happy that our hard work paid off."

It didn't come easy for Saxony (21-2), the state's top-ranked Class 1 team in the latest Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association poll. After Mirly's goal, the Crusaders had to withstand a late offensive push from the Indians (13-11) to secure their first district championship in school history.

"The last five minutes, they were pushing pretty hard to get that goal," said Saxony junior defenseman Logan Welker. "But we just had to push through it. It's the district championship. We had to give it our all, leave it all on the field."

First-year Saxony coach Garrett Fritsche was quick to credit his players' defensive effort.

"Those last five minutes of a game like this are awfully scary," he said. "Our defense was strong all year. They've [allowed] very few goals this year. Credit to our defense, and especially our keeper."

When the final horn sounded, the Crusaders celebrated briefly at midfield, then regrouped and looked forward to the next task at hand.

"This was one of our main goals this year," said a beaming Ali Galemmo, a junior who, along with her teammates, suffered heart-wrenching defeats in the district final the last two years against St. Pius X, two years ago in double-overtime and last year in a shootout. "State is our main goal, and this is one of the stepping stones along the way. The fact we marked this off our list is a good feeling."

The game was different from the last time these teams met, a regular-season battle two weeks ago where Saxony prevailed by the same 1-0 score. This time, both teams came out aggressively in an effort to put the first score on the board.

Saxony won that battle as Mirly took a pass from fellow junior Brianna Mueller just outside the top of the penalty box, gained control between a pair of St. Vincent defenders, then turned and rifled a shot into the upper corner of the net at the 10:43 mark of the first half.

"It was just a reaction," Mirly said. "You don't have time to think, you just do."

St. Vincent missed a chance to tie the score with just over five minutes left in the half when senior midfielder Courtney Brown corralled the ball just outside the penalty box, spun and fired a high shot that Saxony goalkeeper Raegan Wieser leaped, reached and barely tipped over the crossbar.

"They're a good team, and they're going to have good shots on goal," Wieser said. "I just watched the ball and hit it out."

Saxony was able to clear the ensuing corner kick, and Galemmo nearly scored in the final minute when she put a shot past charging St. Vincent goalkeeper Brett Schario, who did manage to slow the shot with a diving effort. With the ball rolling toward the goal, Indians defender Kelsie Graham swept in and cleared the ball before it crossed the goal line.

Early in the second half, the Indians dodged a bullet when Mirly dribbled through the middle of the St. Vincent defense and uncorked a shot that was initially blocked. The rebound came back to Mirly at the doorstep of the goal, but she wasn't able to get a shot off before Schario smothered the ball on the line.

"That's the way soccer goes," Mirly said. "You work your butt off, you try to get the shots off, and if they fall, you know your hard work paid off. And if they didn't, you just keep working harder for the next opportunity."

With their season on the line, the Indians did their best to knot the score, but Saxony's defense was up to the challenge. With under four minutes remaining, St. Vincent's Corin Carroll worked her way down the left sideline, dribbled in and fired a hard shot from outside the penalty box that went just wide.

"It was a physical game, like the last time," St. Vincent coach Caitlin Pistorio said. "Still a very fast-paced, physical, aggressive game. But this was definitely dialed up a few notches, I think."

For Fritsche, who graduated from Saxony in 2009 and has been a part of the soccer program ever since, the win culminated years of hard, behind-the-scenes work.

"This team is something special," Fritsche said. "The past two years ended early. They had the ability, they had the talent. We just didn't get that last [win] in.

"But you could tell, they want it this year. They're not letting down until it's over."