Perryville girls soccer grabs bragging rights over St. Vincent in crosstown rivalry

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- No matter how you frame it, a rivalry always matters. When you are neighbors, friends and share the same home field, winning matters.

It had been three years since Perryville girls soccer had defeated crosstown rival St. Vincent, but on Friday the Pirates clung on for dear life and a 2-0 victory, allowing their senior class to bookend its career with wins over the Indians.

"We have not beat them since freshman year, so it was really great to come in beating them and then finish [my career] beating them," Perryville senior striker Kylie Bilek said. "This is our town, I guess."

GLENN LANDBERG ~ glandberg@semissourian.com Perryville's Anna Huskey, left, and goalie Camryn Baer work to keep a shot by St. Vincent's Emily Welker out of the goal during the second half Friday, April 29, 2016 in Perryville.Glenn Landberg

It didn't always look like that Friday evening, as St. Vincent (10-7) created a bevy of high-quality chances that it just failed to put away. The Indians out-shot the Pirates (12-3-1) 15-7, but Perryville capitalized on its opportunities as Bilek had a goal and an assist and Kirstin Jannin put one away to send the girls in green to a win.

"It's the same thing we've had for 90 percent of our games this season," St. Vincent coach Caitlin Pistorio said. "We've got the skill and we've got the desire, we just haven't figured it out yet.

"I think [being calm in front of goal] is a huge part of it. We have our standard forwards -- one has never played forward before this season and one is a freshman. So there's some of that. They're so excited and they want it so bad. They get in there and it seems like an easy shot toward goal turns into high or to the outside. I think a lot of it is trying to control that excitement."

Besides getting the better of its crosstown counterpart, the win also allowed Perryville to remain unbeaten in conference play.

"St. Vincent, we happen to be in the same conference but we're not in the same class, so the game really is about bragging rights," Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said. "We had lost the last couple years, and the girls knew that. ... They wanted this game and I think they fought hard to get it. Believe me, if [injured seniors] Brooke [Hogard] or Addie [Schindler] could have come in, they'd have been the first ones in this game, because they wanted to win this. It is bragging rights for a year. That's about all it is, but it's nice to have that for a change."

St. Vincent only out-shot Perryville 7-4 in the first half, but had more clear-cut looks at the goal. The Pirates, however, played to their strength at the moment -- hanging tough on defense and then springing on the counter, where they used Bilek's speed to cause problems.

Bilek had already created danger multiple times before she got onto a ball into the right corner in the 33rd minute. She played a cross into the center of the 18-yard box, where Jannin found room to turn and send the ball on goal. St. Vincent goalkeeper Courtney Brewer got her hands on the ball but watched it float just over the goal line. A defender volleyed the ball out before it hit the ground, but it was too late, and Perryville took a 1-0 advantage.

That came moments after Perryville midfielder Sydney Spears had attacked down the left side before playing the ball to Bilek at the top of the 6-yard box. Bilek cut the ball back to the left post, only to watch Brewer make a diving stop on the goal line to keep the game scoreless.

GLENN LANDBERG ~ glandberg@semissourian.com Perryville's Kylie Bilek watches her shot get blocked by St. Vincent's Courtney Brewer during the first half Friday, April 29, 2016 in Perryville.Glenn Landberg

She made the next one count, though.

"I have to brush it off because I know I have to get it on the next play. I can't dwell on one play," Bilek said.

"It's pretty hard, especially with our other forward [Brooke Hogard] out, because she's my speed -- she can keep up with me. At times I felt like I was out-running my [teammates], but I had to slow down and contain myself and wait for my center mids to play them the ball."

Bilek didn't wait up for anyone as she inserted a dagger on the first chance for either team in the second half. In the 43rd minute the striker ran on to a long ball into the attacking third and simply won a foot race with the defender, pushing past and slotting a shot across the face of the goal to the right side for a 2-0 advantage.

It was exactly what the Pirates look to do on the attack, and it put St. Vincent on its heels.

"I think that second goal was a dagger," Pistorio said. "You could almost see we kind of got deflated. We just never seemed to bounce back after that."

Despite being down at the half, the Indians easily could have had three or four goals before the break.

It started in the fifth minute, when St. Vincent attacking midfielder Corin Carroll played a diagonal through ball to Lauren Carron, whose shot was denied by a sprawling Camryn Baer in net.

Baer made nine saves in the game.

GLENN LANDBERG ~ glandberg@semissourian.com Perryville's Anna Huskey, left, and St. Vincent's Kalli Seabaugh drive to the ball during the second half Friday, April 29, 2016 in Perryville.Glenn Landberg

Carroll was a major threat in the first half, creating chances in the center channel. In the eighth minute she sent Carron in for another opportunity, and she began a 24th-minute sequence that saw a Kelsie Graham shot saved by Baer. Carroll then took her own look at goal a minute later, taking a pass from Faith Kapp, shielding off a defender and forcing a diving stop at the lower left corner.

In the 32nd minute, St. Vincent's Megan Hennemann played a ball to the far post, but the volley was sent wide from the doorstep.

Despite a wide open first half, it was Perryville who was left playing with the lead, and the Pirates seemed bolstered by that as they tightened up their defense in the second half. Most of Carroll's central runs dried up, and Perryville sweeper Emma Nelson cleaned up many of the balls that came through.

"I thought we were giving them a little too much cushion and we were pressing balls we should have been holding off on, and we were allowing them to win the balls instead of stepping up," Fulton said. "We talked about stepping up more and playing off your man a little more and coming into the play a little hard. And I think they just played better as a team in the second half -- they played a little smarter.

"... Our defense, they've held strong all year and we've only had a couple of mental breakdowns all season. If there's one strong point about our team that hasn't changed, it's our defense. And our keeper, I just can't say enough about her tonight. She plays every ball well out of the air and she stays focused and keeps us in the game."

As the game drew on, St. Vincent pushed the issue by loading its attackers into a 4-3-3 and amping up the pressure. Again, opportunities came, but not goals.

In the 64th minute the Indians swung a corner kick to the top of the 6-yard box, where it rolled across the face of the goal in one direction, taking Baer with it, before getting deflected back the other way, where Hennemann fired a tantalizing opportunity wide.

Just under four minutes later St. Vincent got another golden opportunity on the counter, as Kapp slid the ball to Carroll in front of the goal, only to see the shot from inside the 6-yard box saved by Baer.

"St. Vincent had some chances," Fulton said. "They're a very good squad and well coached, and this game could have gone either way. We knew that coming in. We're just trying to keep our conference chances alive. We were 4-0 in our conference coming in, so it's a big game for us.

"We're just hanging on at the moment. Then at times we look really good, but we knew we were going to have some issues with certain injuries, and we were trying to get the other girls to step it up. We're getting there, but we're still a work in progress."

The Indians will have to wait another year to claim the city thrown.

"You can say up and down that this game really doesn't matter, but it matters," Pistorio said. "It matters to both teams and to all the players and I'm sure they'll run into each over the next couple of weeks and there will probably be some harassment. I think they'll be counting the days until next year, just to have a chance to redeem themselves."