By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Springfield, Mo. — With one swift strike off her right foot, Ashley Andrews brought truth to Springfield Catholic’s year-long rallying cry of “Never Again.”
Tied 3-3 with Bolivar in overtime Tuesday, Andrews buried a soaring rainbow of a shot from 25 yards out just beyond the left corner of the penalty box into the top right corner of the net, igniting a mob as the Catholic student section charged the field to celebrate the golden goal with the Irish. A goal that also ended Bolivar’s eight-game season-opening win streak.
“It was incredible,” Andrews said. “It was amazing. It was something we’ve all been longing for this entire season. Every practice, every game we say ‘never again,’ thinking of last year when we lost districts against Bolivar.
“Everything has been leading up to this game, and being able to win and know that we are Catholic soccer and we are capable of winning and having our pride back is really amazing.”
CLICK HERE FOR BOLIVAR VS. SPRINGFIELD CATHOLIC PHOTOS
Andrews’ goal came 1:47 into the first overtime, with the ball finding its way to her foot following a scramble inside the penalty box.
“I didn’t even think,” Andrews said. “I just hit it and kind of wished for the best. It floated for a really long time and I was watching and watching it and then it finally fell down and it was perfect. I’ve taken hundreds of shots, but there was a slight difference from that one where I had a gut feeling that it was in.”
Andrews and Catholic (10-2-1), which lost 1-0 to Bolivar (8-1) in last year’s district final, only had a chance at overtime after Emma Skornia tied the game 3-3 in the 78th minute after another scramble inside the penalty box. The goal was Skornia’s second.
Brionna Halverson gave Bolivar a 3-2 lead after scoring two goals in 86 seconds, the second coming with 18 minutes to play in the second half. Halverson finished with a hat trick and is sitting at 27 goals in nine games.
“[Her third goal] got to us,” Catholic head coach Ben Timson said. “It took us a few minutes to recover from that. Sometimes in soccer, a goal like that can be a stake to the heart that’s hard to come back from, but they showed some great mental toughness in doing so.”
Halverson willed Bolivar to two ties before her third goal gave the Liberators their first lead of the night.
“Her drive and her toughness, her mental toughness, is just amazing,” Timson said of Halverson. “We got up, she tied it. We went back up. She tied it again. She gave them the lead. And then she drops back in the midfield and starts playing defense and causing us all kinds of problems there.”
Skornia put Catholic up 1-0 in the game’s 42nd minute following a scoreless first half, taking advantage of some miscommunication by Bolivar’s defense in front of the net.
After Halverson tied things 1-1 in the 54th minute, Catholic regained the lead 98 seconds later on a Kaleia Huttenlocher goal.
“The first goal was our center back and our keeper miscommunicating,” Bolivar head coach Steve Fast said. “They both got to the ball at the same time, there’s a deflection and she taps it in the open net. I really feel like one of their four goals was from tremendous buildup, but the others are correctable mistakes for us.”
The Irish celebrated with last year’s district runner-up plaque after the game.
“A lot of credit to Catholic, they just keep bringing it,” Fast said. “They’re loaded with a lot of weapons and tough to defend.”
