Lana Adams scored her 50th goal of the season on an overtime penalty kick to lift the St. Vincent Lady Indians (19-3) to a 3-2 victory over St. Charles (13-9-1) in a Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 2A state quarterfinal matchup May 31 on First State Community Bank Field at The Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex in Perryville.
Adams, a junior verbally committed to the University of Missouri, said the chance of scoring her 50th goal was the last thing on her mind.
“I mean, it’s awesome,” Sadams said. “Fifty goals doesn’t really matter to me. I mean, it’s winning. It’s going to state. That’s the big thing. We’ve been working all season. Some people might have doubted us, but we’re here and we’re working hard and this is where we want to be.”
With the victory, the Lady Indians advance to the semifinal round, where they will face Logan-Rogersville in the Class 2 state semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Friday, June 6, at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton, and join a long list of St. Vincent teams that have qualified for state competition this year, including the girls volleyball, basketball and track teams.
Adams said joining that list doesn’t bring any added pressure, even if it would be the perfect capstone to the school’s athletic year.
“No really,” Adams said. “We’ve been to state in like almost all our sports and it’s been incredible. We’re just here to finish it off.”
It’s been 2 years since the Lady Indians last won a district title and 6 years since they last appeared in the state semifinals. The Lady Indians’ last state title came in 2018, following a state title in 2017.
Against St. Charles, St. Vincent came out of the gate focused a ready, building a 2-0 lead just before the half on goals from Abigail Schilling and Sadie Cissell.
That 2-0 lead had St. Vincent coach Cari Barnes braced for trouble.
“We talked about it at halftime,” Barnes said. “A 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer. And we knew that going in, and it lived up to it, you know?”
In the second half, St. Charles found its footing and scored two goals of its own to tie the score and send the game into overtime.
“They came out and they wanted it maybe a tad more than we did for a second,” Barnes said, “but we’ve talked all season about digging deep and giving all we’ve got, and I’m so proud of the girls because I feel like they did that, each and every one of them.”
As the game proceeded into overtime, St. Charles continued to play aggressive defense, which kept the Lady Indians from scoring for a time.
Ultimately, that aggressiveness proved fatal, as St. Vincent freshman Morgan Schnurbusch drew a foul inside the box, setting up the final penalty kick and the winning goal.
“We knew this game wasn’t going to end, 2-0,” Adams said. “We knew that coming in. We knew they were probably going to put one on there, putting pressure on. All we had to do was bounce back from it, keep our energy up, keep our composure, and just be ready to go.”
Despite expecting a few surprises during the game and having confidence in her players, Barnes said it was still a real nail-biter.
“Absolutely,” said Barnes, a St. Vincent alum herself. “I’m still shaking, actually. It just feels amazing right now. Well, that championship factor has got us. And I’ve told everybody, just because we haven’t made it there the past few years doesn’t mean that we don’t still have a talented group of girls and a talented program.”
This season also marked St. Vincent’s return to Class 2 after several years playing in Class 3, thanks to those earlier state titles.
“That Class 3 is tough,” Barnes said. “Our enrollment’s like 120 kids. We were going against people that have, literally six and eight times more than that. That’s tough. The fact that we were even competing and won a couple of districts speaks volumes for our program.
“I’ve told everybody from the get-go — these girls in the St. Vincent program this school year have had great success, whether it’s cross country, track, volleyball, basketball — tt’s the true testament to how these girls are. It’s not a fluke. They’re athletic, but they also play well together. They come hard, ready to show up any time, and they give it all.”
The best part? It’s not over yet.
“Perryville is a really strong community, and we just show up for each other,” Barnes said. “It’s fun for me to be a part of.”
