Through the first nine games of the season, the St. Vincent Indians girls soccer team (7-2) has proven to be one of the better programs not only in Southeast Missouri but the entire state as well.
In the Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association’s first rankings of the season, the Indians are the No. 4 team in Class 2 behind No. 1 Orchard Farm (8-0), No. 2 St. Pius X (8-2) and No. 3 Pleasant Hill (9-3).
This top five ranking comes after St. Vincent beat not one but three Class 4 schools to capture the Windsor Tournament Championship — its first title of the year — two weeks ago.
In the championship game on April 10, the Indians beat Fox (6-3-1) by a final score of 1-0 as freshman Olivia Winkler scored the game-winning goal.
To reach the title match, St. Vincent took care of Mehlville (4-8) 1-0, as well, with senior Haley Emmendorfer producing the game-winner off a pass from fellow senior Abigail Schilling.
The Indians started the Windsor Tournament with a 3-0 win over Seckman (4-6) that saw Emmendorfer, Schilling, and junior Lana Adams all scoring goals. Adams also dished out an assist in the victory, as did Winkler and freshman Onna Boland.
The diversity in scoring from these contests shows just how well-rounded this year’s Indians squad is class-by-class, proving they can return to postseason prominence for a program with a rich history.
“We’re just playing really well as a team right now,” head coach Cari Barnes said.“I feel like our effort is there. We tend to move a lot of people around, and the girls are responding to that really well.”
Over the past seven seasons, St. Vincent has won two state championships out of three final four appearances, also bringing home a total of five district titles in that span.
However, the Indians have only won one district championship in the last three seasons as they failed to make the Class 3 District 1 finals last year, falling to Cape Central in the semifinal round.
Even though St. Vincent is in Class 2 now, it more than got its revenge on the Tigers with an 8-0 shutout of Cape to start this season back on March 25.
One reason why the Indians are currently outscoring opponents by an average of 5-1 is Mizzou soccer commit Lana Adams, who proves game in and game out to be the top player in all of Southeast Missouri.
Adams far and away leads St. Vincent in scoring with a total of 44 points, having already recorded not one but four hat tricks.
To lead the Indians in scoring, the future Southeastern Conference footballer has produced a team-high 15 goals and 14 assists. Lana missed most of last soccer season due to an ACL tearshe suffered as a sophomore.
Like Adams, Abigail Schilling is a fellow future Division-I soccer player as she already signed with Western Illinois prior to the season back in November. Schilling paces Adams in total points off 12 goals and four assists.
“They’re both obviously phenomenal players, but they’re also great leaders on our team,” Coach Barnes said. “I like their awareness on the field — it’s so helpful to have them. They see everything and are constantly talking and helping the players around them be better players.”
Outside of Adams and Schilling, three other St.Vincent players have scored five or more goals in the Emmendorfer sisters Haley (six) and sophomore Aubrey Emmendorfer (five) as well as Winkler (five). Onna Boland, senior Mallory Patrick and freshman Morgan Schnurbusch have each recorded one goal as well.
A player like Patrick helps solidify a defense that’s also led by star junior defenders Rylee Robinson and Callie Schnurbusch, while Emmendorfer and Winkler spend time on the back line as well. Playing back at goalkeeper for the Indians this spring have been seniors Jocelynn Leible and Mallory’s sister, Allie Patrick.
“Callie and Rylee have both started in our back line since they were freshmen,” Coach Barnes said. “Having their experience now as juniors is really helping, and they just work so well together.”
The Indians have recorded five shutouts thus far and have only allowed more than one goal on two occasions. These instances came in St. Vincent’s only losses of the season to Class 3 schools No. 6-ranked Parkway Central (4-1-2) and unranked Notre Dame (4-5) by scores of 3-1 and 4-2, respectively.
Other big-time contributors for the Indians this season include two unselfish players like seniors Kaitlyn Buerck and junior Sadie Cissell, who’ve combined for five assists with two and three, respectively.
“I told my seniors at the beginning of the year that they dictate so much about how our season goes,” Coach Barnes said. “Their attitude and the way they lead the underclassmen does so much for your season. My seniors are a great group of girls and work really well together with everyone.”
Another bright spot for St. Vincent is that several of these players have already competed in one or two state final fours this school year.
The Patrick and Emmendorfer sisters, as well as Winkler, were on both the state final four girls basketball and volleyball teams.
As for the Schnurbusch sisters and Buerck, they each played volleyball, while Adams and Robinson were crucial members of the basketball team.
“It’s amazing, and they’re all an absolute pleasure to coach,” Coach Barnes said. “I always tell them that they possess stuff you can’t teach as a coach — their heart and their grit. They play with such an intensity that’s so hard to instill, but they just come with that. I think with everything they’ve accomplished this school year has made them work better as a team.”
Looking ahead, St. Vincent has a total of eight regular-season games left until the district tournament, as it will host a fellow Class 2 school in unranked St. Francis Borgia (9-5) tomorrow night at The Bank of Missouri Sports Complex.
Next week, the Indians are set to face off against crosstown and now Class 2 District 1 rival Perryville (4-4) in a Friday Night Showdown at 5 p.m. on May 2.
