FENTON — After dropping the semi-final in a 2-1 loss to Clayton, the St. Vincent Lady Indians dominated offensively in the third place game against Springfield Catholic. They were led Saturday by a history making performance from Senior Lana Adams, who scored six goals in the 7-4 victory.
The Lady Indians established their offensive dominance early in Saturday’s third place game when Lana Adams scored an unassisted goal in the first minute, her first of five in the first half, a single half record in MSHAA finals competition.
Springfield Catholic’s Addie Killinger tied the game with a goal in the 13th minute, but the tie only lasted two minutes.
Adams added her second goal of the half in the 15th minute, an unassisted shot from just outside the box. St. Vincent Senior Sadie Cissell added a goal in the 22nd minute to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of St Vincent just before the 20 minute hydration break. The unassisted goal was Cissell’s 6th of the season.
Adam’s dominant performance continued late in the first half, she scored her third, fourth, and fifth goals of the match in four minutes. Tessa Staggs was given an assist on Adams fourth goal in the 26th minute.
Springfield Catholic’s Claire Majorahn scored on an unassisted goal in the 36th minute to bring the halftime score to 6-2 in favor of the Lady Indians.
The scoring slowed down in the second half, but Adams still found the back of the net once more in the game, an unassisted goal in the 61st minute. Her six goals in one game set a new MSHAA single game record in finals competition, as well as a record for most goals by one player over the two game tournament.
Springfield Catholic managed two more goals in the match late in the second half. One from Freshman Ruby Schabel and another from Majorahn, her second of the game. Despite the late pressure, the St. Vincent Indians were able to play out the final minutes of the game and secure third place with the 7-4 victory.
St. Vincent head coach Cari Barnes said she was proud of how her team handled the emotions of losing Friday and the quick turnaround to play for third place Saturday.
“We went through a lot of emotions the last 24 hours, and I think our biggest thing was just feel this emotion now but we don’t want to leave here [Saturday] feeling that emotion,” Barnes said. “I’m super proud of the girls, they came out from the start of the whistle ready to go, ready to play and I am just happy that we came out on top. They just used that energy from yesterday and said ‘hey, You know not everybody gets to walk away with a win the last game of the season and we have that opportunity in front of us So let’s take that opportunity and make it the best and make it our own’ and I think they did well with that.”
Adams, whose six goals in the third-place game brought her season total to 70, praised her teammates for their resilience and ability to bounce back and win after the disappointment Friday.
“[Friday] didn’t go as planned,”Adams said. “We came here to win a championship and it was a tough game, so today we decided we weren’t going to roll over and die, we were going to dominate, and that’s what we did” Adams said. “I can’t do it and score my goals without them, without my defense, it’s a team effort. I wasn’t really worried about records or scoring all the goals, I was just here to win the game.”
The Lady Indians ended the season with a record of 21-3.
In Friday’s semi-final match, the Lady Indians just missed several early chances, including two free kicks in the first seven minutes, before Grace Jenneman opened the scoring in the eighth minute on an impressive corner kick for her fourth goal of the season. Jennemans kick deflected off the crossbar and off the Clayton goalkeeper before landing in the back of the net for the unassisted score.
St. Vincent would miss two more opportunities to take a two goal lead on close free kick chances taken by Adams. The Clayton defense swarmed the senior standout for most of the game, limiting her chances. St. Vincent controlled possession for most of the first half, and went into the half with a 1-0 lead.
The second half started well for the Lady Indians, with a Chloe House stop and several Clayton corner kicks cleared in the opening minutes. Eventually the Clayton offensive pressure would lead to a game tying goal from Caitlin Gwydir and the go ahead goal from Lucia Melander. The St. Vincent defense was able to make several more stops and clear two more corners to keep it a one-goal match, but the offense was not able to score the equalizer. A late shot on goal by Aubrey Emmendorfer was saved by the Clayton goalkeeper, a last minute goal kick was cleared in the final seconds, and Clayton held on for the 2-1 victory, sending the Lady Indians to Saturday’s third place match.
