Senior Molly Klein (10) pulls back to prepare for a kick downfield against the Lindbergh Flyers on Sat. April 9.
After a Payton McCallister score 31 seconds into the first half, you’d think the RBHS girls’ soccer team would’ve been ready to unleash a barrage of goals against foe Francis Howell North in their final game of the St. Dominic Tournament. This thought, however, never materialized for the Lady Bruins as they earned their third loss of the tournament tonight, bringing their record to 7-10.
McCallister’s quick strike came off a Danni Hrdina assist, putting RBHS in control early and supplying the Lady Bruins with a dose of confidence.
“Payton’s goal gave us some momentum and really put us in a good position,” Junior Molly Gunter said. “It just made us want to go out and score as many as possible.”
For Hrdina, a senior, Gunter’s drive to put as many balls in the back of the net has been a goal of hers each and every game as the end of her career as a Lady Bruin is fast approaching.
“Every game we [seniors] want to do something special,” Hrdina said. “Knowing we only have so little time left is something that has really driven us this year I think. Whether we’re playing again next year in college or not, it’s bittersweet to be playing out last high school season together and we want to make it as long as possible.”
RBHS’s momentum, however, didn’t seem to carry into the second half as the Knights scored two goals in as many minutes following halftime. After last night’s 2-1 loss to Fort Zumwalt West in a strikingly similar fashion the Lady Bruins were feeling a strong sense of déjà vu.
“Unfortunately in both games we were never able to find that second goal after going up early,” Hrdina said. “Both teams played similar formations and had very good players up top.”
Although currently in a five game losing streak after tonight’s loss RBHS is determined to ratchet their game up as they head into two critical games against district rivals Smith-Cotton and Hickman in the coming week. Despite playing both squads in the jamboree on Mar. 11 Senior captain Molly Klein doesn’t believe there are weaknesses in either team and that she and her teammates have their work cut out for them.
“Both teams are very solid,” Klein said. “In the next few practices we really just need to focus on ourselves and what we need to work on. One example of that would be to start working the ball from out of the back. We’ve gotten in this habit of just kicking it up the field without having an idea of where it’s going. I think we need to work on staying calm and just looking to play possession out of the back field.”
While Gunter wants to make sure she sends her senior teammates out on a high note, she knows that it’s going to take much more than playing with emotion to take home wins against both the Tigers and Kewpies.
“It’s not going to be all for the seniors, it’s all for the team,” Gunter said. “Of course we want to go out strong for the seniors, but it’s all about having a good final and accomplishing the goals we set at the beginning of our season. If we can stay healthy and focused on what needs to be done each and every game I have no doubt we can do whatever we set our minds to.”
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