After their first game of the St. Dominic Tournament resulted in a bitter 6-1 defeat at the hands of the tournament hosts, the RBHS (7-9) girls’ soccer team were given a 2-1 loss against Fort Zumwalt West in their second matchup last night.
Heading into their meeting with the Jaguars, RBHS was determined to move forward from their five goal beating from St. Dominic. Senior Danni Hrdina believed the Lady Bruins had a tough time dealing with the unusual formation the Crusaders utilized.
“Part of the reason we had such a tough time with St. Dominic was due to the fact they were playing a formation we had never seen before and weren’t prepared for,” Hrdina said. “Because of that we made some new adjustments to our formation as well at practice this week. We came into tonight’s game with a much better attitude. We put the loss against St. Dominic behind us so we could work on improving.”
And improve they did with sophomore Payton McCallister scoring early in the fifth minute off a Katey Klucking assist, giving RBHS an early one goal lead. After the loss of Sydney Griggs, Reilly Strong and Sydney Mulholland to graduation last year McCallister found herself with a larger role heading into her sophomore campaign.
“I didn’t make any major changes this season,” McCallister said. “As with last season I continue to listen to the upperclassmen as well as coach Drewing and just work my hardest during practice as do my teammates. We all just want to become as good as we know we can be.”
McCallister’s quick strike, however, only lasted a total of eight minutes after the Jaguars equalized off of a corner kick in the 13th minute and sending the game into a 1-1 draw at halftime. Head coach Gary Drewing stayed diligent with his girls during the break and believed if they kept their current form they would find a winning goal in the final forty minutes.
“We had been playing well up to the second half,” Hrdina said, “so coach [Drewing] really just wanted us to keep our energy up and get another goal in the net.”
The goal would come, but for the opposition, as the Jaguars scored a go-ahead goal in the 72nd minute, only eight minutes from the final whistle, putting away the Lady Bruins and handing them their second loss of the tournament and ninth on the season.
While they may sit two losses below .500, RBHS’s schedule hasn’t been an easy one in the slightest with matchups against teams such as Park Hill and Park Hill South, two teams who punched their ticket to the state tournament in the past season.
“We are just trying to get ready for districts,” Senior Cara Wilfong said. “Playing a tough schedule will help us do well there. It’s all about the postseason and making sure we are prepared.”
The Lady Bruins will face Francis Howell North in their final game of the St. Dominic tournament tomorrow at 7:30. For Wilfong the third match will serve as a chance to prove the past two losses for RBHS have been nothing but flukes.
“Heading into tomorrow’s game we just want to prove that we’re ready for any challenger, any time and put losses behind us and go out and play our best.”