Perryville girls’ soccer coach Jerry Fulton was positive how good he thought his team was.
“I’m not sure we have proved it yet so far this year,” he said.
He believes his team took steps in the right direction over the past weekend.
Perryville traveled to Hannibal and came out unbeaten as they took care of the host team 6-2 on Friday afternoon and then defeated Villa Duchesne 5-1 on Saturday morning to claim second place in the Hannibal Tournament.
The team battled rain and lightning all weekend and Mother Nature finally got the better of the event on Saturday afternoon as the last of the three games against Quincy Notre Dame was cancelled because of incoming weather.
“I’m glad they cancelled it because had we played that game, we would have been coming through St. Louis about the time they had all that severe weather and tornadoes,” Fulton said. “It was the right decision and we were able to get the girls home safely.”
Although the Pirates avoided the brunt of the storm, they still had to deal with some delays on Saturday. Perryville went into a lightning delay four minutes into its game with Villa Duchesne and had to wait about 90 minutes for the game to resume.
Ava Ernst and Kyla Schnurbusch had two goals apiece in the victory over Villa Duchesne, while Jewel Riney added the other tally. Brynn Wibbenmeyer had two assists in the game, while Rachel Riney, Ashlyn Rodewald added assists.
Fulton felt like the game was a small sample for the overall experience his team had during the event as they never trailed in either game.
“I think the girls played extremely well,” Fulton said. “The girls played the right way and moved the ball and were unselfish. We were really looking forward to playing Quincy in the last game, but the weather had other ideas.”
Perryville outscored its two opponents 11-3 in the two games, which each of the opponent’s goals coming off set pieces, which is something that Fulton will address in the coming days.
“I think that’s more on the coaches than the players,” he said. “I think it’s a matter of understanding what we are trying to do when it comes to that.”
However, he was impressed with the offensive output as Ernst scored five of the team’s goals in the two days, including a hat trick against Hannibal on Friday. Rachel Riney, Jewel Riney, and Schnurbusch added goals against the hosts as well.
“The girls came out and made their runs and passed the ball where it needed to be,” Fulton said. “We were never behind at any time.”
The Pirates had never played either of those teams recently, if at all and Fulton was happy with how his team performed, so much so that he sang the team’s praises after the pair of victories.
“We might be better than we thought,” he said. “You never know what to expect from teams you never see until you go and play them. Villa Duchesne is always good and in the hunt in their class. Hannibal is usually good as well, but the girls controlled the game so well that the other teams really weren’t in the games.”
Fulton also was glad his team was able to have some team bonding on the road and during the weekend
“I think bonding is a highly important asset of these tournaments that no one notices,” Fulton said. “We have a good group of girls not only on the field, but also off of it.”
