The Springfield Catholic Lady Irish (7-1-1) used two goals in the opening seven minutes of Wednesday's contest to quickly eliminate any momentum Glendale (2-4) held going into action and rolled to a 3-0 home victory over the Lady Falcons.
Coming into the game, an aura of uncertainty surrounded the 13-time defending district champs due to the fact that they were about to play their second game without all-state forward Emma Skornia, who suffered an injury during a win at Maryville back on Friday.
GAME PHOTOS: CATHOLIC VS. GLENDALE
Those feelings of apprehension quickly dissolved in the game's fourth minute thanks to senior midfielder Maggie Temofeew, who received a terrific pass from sophomore Kenzie Serrano and nailed a close-range shot with her left foot.
The goal, Temofeew's first of the 2016 season, breathed much-needed positive energy into the Lady Irish.
“It's important for us to get one in quickly because if we don't, I think we kind of let up a little bit,” Temofeew said. “We have trouble with staying intense the entire time and we have to remind our girls that continuously, but when we got that goal quickly, it boosted our spirits, for sure.”
Just over three minutes later, Catholic struck again when freshman Kaleia Huttenlocher found herself in a breakaway with the ball – sprinting downfield and connecting with the back of the net to expand the Catholic lead to 2-0 before the Lady Falcons knew what hit them.
“That's been kind of one of the things we've been faced with this year,” Glendale coach Jeff Rogers said in reference to giving up early scores. “When you play good teams and you spot them quick goals, then you're just having to play differently throughout. I told our kids that we waited too long to get competitive.”
Glendale managed to settle down on defense for the rest of the period, but Catholic remained instrumental in keeping the ball on the Lady Falcons' side of the field and using its momentum from the early goals to make sure pressure stayed squarely on the visitors as the halftime whistle blew.
“I was glad with the way the girls came out tonight. I was really happy,” Catholic coach Ben Timson said. “That was the best first half of soccer we've played all year and I thought the girls were really into it. It was just a great half of soccer for us.”
The Lady Irish would add some insurance with 17:19 to play in the second half after a ball struck by senior midfielder Maggie Greenley bounced through the legs of goalkeeper Emma Brand to put Catholic up by three.
Despite the slip-up by his keeper in the 63rd minute, Rogers is more than confident in Brand, a volleyball standout who is playing her first year of high school soccer.
“Other than that, I thought she played a great game,” said Rogers of Brand. “She's one of our kids that I think the more time she gets on the pitch, the better she's going to get for us.”
The win also marks the seventh time the Lady Irish have recorded a shutout this year.
“We are really strong this year,” Temofeew added about her team's defense. “Our two seniors last year were our center backs and we lost them, so we were a little worried, but our defense is really strong. I'm really proud of them.”
Catholic goes up against Neosho in the quarterfinals of the Ozark Tournament on Friday. Glendale returns to conference play on Friday as the Lady Falcons travel to Camdenton.
