The Lady Bulldogs (21-3-1) beat Glendale (8-12) on the pitch at home on Wednesday, winning their second straight district title over the Lady Falcons.
Last year, an overtime period was required before Rolla came away with a win. This year, they did not need any extra time.
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After just five minutes into the game, Rolla’s Brynn Proffitt scored during a scramble in front of Glendale’s net to give the Lady Bulldogs an early lead. The lone goal held up as the only goal of the game until late in the second half.
It wasn’t until a handball gave Rolla a penalty kick with 7:42 to play in the contest. Emma Laney converted the PK to give Rolla a 2-0 cushion. Then with under a minute-and-a-half to play, junior forwards Adelaide Brow and Morgan Gabriele each netted a goal on breakaways just for good measure.
“4-0 is not really how the game went,” said Rolla head coach Mike Howard. “We got those three late goals and two in the last minute, so the Glendale girls have a lot to be proud of. They came and played very hard and did a good job.”
In last year’s district championship game, Rolla edged Glendale 2-1 in overtime. The two squads also faced off this season on May 3, a game in which Rolla needed penalty kicks to get the win. On Wednesday, Rolla controlled the time of possession and did not give Glendale many quality shots on goal.
“I think the difference in the first game and this game was – and we struggled in the first half to do it – is we just finished our opportunities,” said Howard. “Give Glendale credit for that… In the second half there, we finished the opportunities we got and I think it gave us a little separation. That’s really why the score was 4-0.”
Wednesday marks Rolla’s 18th shutout of the season, a school record. They’ve only surrendered nine goals all year and senior keeper Katie Hudson obviously has a lot to do with that.
“It feels good to get a shutout in the district final,” said Hudson. “We knew it would be hard to come back and beat [Glendale] again after barely beating them in PK’s… We came out here knowing, with home field advantage, we came out here saying, ‘We’re not going to lose at home.’ So it feels really good.”
Rolla’s next opponent will be the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3, Rockwood Summit. Summit ended Rolla’s season in last year’s state sectional round 2-1. They sport a 24-1-1 record and will present several challenges for the Lady Bulldogs.
“We played Summit last year,” said Howard. “We know they’re big, fast and physical, probably 17 or 18 kids deep and they’ll come at ya. But hopefully our schedule has prepared us for this game. That’s why we play a difficult regular season schedule so that our kids have a chance in the postseason.”
“I think it will be pretty similar to last year’s matchup,” said Hudson when asked about the matchup with Rockwood Summit. “It was really close. We did have a couple chances in the game early on last year. I think if we capitalize early and finish the shots early then we’ll have a really good chance of coming out on top."
