SV recovers from slow start to beat Saxony

St. Vincent girls soccer coach Todd Strattman thought that his team started slow, but when they picked it up, the Indians soared.
St. Vincent overcame the slow start and scored often in a 6-0 victory over Saxony Lutheran on Monday at the Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex.
“I thought that Saxony controlled the first 5-10 minutes of the game and that’s not like us,” Strattman said. “I really haven’t figured it out yet, but we have scored in the first 20 or 30 seconds of games this year.”
Saxony had the first scoring chance of the game when the Crusaders struck the post in the first five minutes of the game. St. Vincent had its own post shot about one minute after that. Saxony Lutheran coach Chris Crawford thought the outcome and his team’s attitude could have changed if the Crusaders had scored first.
“I’m not saying that we would have won the game, but a goal there would have made a huge difference,” Crawford said. “After we missed that and St. Vincent scored shortly after we dropped our heads and that’s not like us. There was an overall level of frustration with the team and our ability to finish when we generate chances has been a problem for us this year.”
St. Vincent had no such problems.
Haley Emmendorfer kicked the scoring off in the ninth minute when she beat a Saxony defender to a pass and put the Indians ahead 1-0.

Saxony on the other hand, generated very few other chances the rest of the game against the Indians defense.
“I didn’t think we played well,” Crawford said. “We weren’t connected or cohesive as a unit,” Crawford said. “When you play a team like St. Vincent you have to play good soccer or it will be bad from the start.”
St. Vincent added another goal in the 23rd minute on a 30- yard shot and Lana Adams and Cailyn Prost added goals two minutes apart late in the first half. The Indians led 4-0 at the half and held an 8-2 shot advantage and was 12-3 for the game.
“Our ability to pass the ball and move it around the field has really helped us this year and made us a good team,” Strattman said. “I’d say it’s the number one reason we have been good this year.”
Faith Kell added a goal three minutes into the second half to ice the game.
St. Vincent and Saxony Lutheran have had a bit of a rivalry, however, St. Vincent has dominated the matchup as of late, winning eight straight games over the Crusaders.
“It was much bigger when we were in the same district,” Crawford said. “They are a school 30 minutes away and you always want to win those games,” Crawford said. “In the first half I felt like we played not to lose instead of to win.”
St. Vincent (9-3) will take on Perryville Saturday at 10 a.m., while Saxony will travel to Christian High School on April 28.