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By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The New Covenant Academy Lady Warriors always seem to save their best for last.
Down 1-0 at halftime to a state-ranked opponent in the district championship game?
No reason to panic.
As they’ve shown all season, the Lady Warriors are a second-half team.
NCA had more second-half magic on Thursday night, erupting for three goals in a 3-2 victory over McAuley Catholic in the Class 1 District 6 Tournament finals.
“I don’t why it happens, but it seems to be a pattern,” said freshman Jocelyn Feola, who scored the go-ahead goal for NCA in the second half. “It’s not the best habit, but usually in the first half we’re figuring out what we need to do in the second half to unite and put it all together.”
The victory sends NCA back to the Class 1 state playoffs for the second time in as many seasons.
The Lady Warriors play at Crocker (14-5 overall) on May 29.
It’s a rematch of the 2019 quarterfinals, when NCA beat Crocker 4-3 to advance to the state final four for the first time in program history.
“At the beginning of the year, the first thing we talked about was, ‘Let’s get back to where we were,’” said NCA defender and co-captain Lillie Bodeen. “We missed a year, but that doesn’t matter now. Let’s go back to the playoffs and do what we need to do.”
Trailing 1-0, sophomore midfielder Katelyn Barstead netted the equalizer for NCA in the 53rd minute.
McAuley had led 1-0 since the 20th minute, when sophomore Ava Masena scored.
NCA coach Eric Crain was confident his team could answer… eventually.
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“All season long, we’ve scored most of our goals in the second half,” he said. “So it was nice being able to come in at halftime and say, ‘We have the second half. We have another 40 minutes. All we need is one.’ Our girls have great chemistry and they fight hard for each other.”
Feola scored the go-ahead goal in the 68th minute. She took possession in the middle of the box, created space and blasted a ball into the upper right corner.
“I couldn’t even tell you exactly how it happened because it all happened so fast,” she said. “It was mostly reflexes and I was where I needed to be.”
NCA (16-3 overall, ranked No. 5 in Class 1 Missouri Soccer Power Rankings) added a key insurance goal when junior Anna Crain converted a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. Feola drew a foul in the box to set up the PK.
That proved large as McAuley, ranked No. 6 in the Class 1 Missouri Soccer Power Rankings, answered right back in the 73rd minute when Kennedy Deruy scored to make it 3-2.
NCA’s defense held up well against a McAuley team that had scored at least three goals in all but one match this season.
Included in that: A 3-0 McAuley victory over NCA on April 17 in the championship game of the Hillcrest Tournament.
“Losing the first time just gave us more of a will to come out here today and play our hardest,” Bodeen said.
Bodeen said NCA put a priority on limiting McAuley’s top two threats, senior Grace Bishop and junior Kayleigh Teeter.
“We knew if we could pressure those two and force their other players to step up, then we would have a great chance of slowing down their team,” Bodeen said. “We went out there and did just that.”
Eric Crain praised the performance of his backline, which features center backs Bodeen and Whitley Farquhar along with outside backs Madison Seevers and Macy Seevers.
The Seevers sisters are soccer newcomers who have brought their volleyball athleticism to NCA’s defensive unit this spring.
“We get a bunch of multi-sport athletes that play for us,” Eric Crain said. “I’m just asking them, ‘Go out and give the same effort you would in your (normal) sport, and we’ll teach you the rest.”
Eric Crain was back coaching on the sidelines one month after a major health scare. He suffered a heart attack, had open-heart surgery and recently received medical clearance to resume his coaching duties.
“It’s a little more emotional being able to be back on the field,” he said. “Every morning I wake up, I feel better. It warms my heart to be able to take my passion and love for the game of soccer and give it to the girls.
“It’s more stressful sitting over there with the fans and parents than being on the sideline. I’m not able to whistle and yell, so my coaching staff and managers are doing that for me.”
McAuley Catholic, a Joplin private school which co-ops with College Heights Christian, finishes its best season in program history at 14-3 overall.
