Visitation (Mo.) flurry
upends Neuqua Valley
Wildcats fall 2-0 in St. Louis college showcase
By Joe Harris
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – The dam finally burst for the Neuqua Valley defense.
Visitation scored twice in a two-minute span in the second half Friday, snapping a streak of more than 130 minutes of scoreless play to start the season for the Wildcats’ back third. The Vivettes rode the offensive salvo to a 2-0 victory over Neuqua Valley in the 15th Annual Parkway College Showcase at the Lou Fusz Soccer Complex.
“They’re a better team than us today,” Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. “They worked the ball pretty well. They played solid, hard defense, and they made us chase a lot.”
Visitation took a 1-0 lead off of a corner kick in the 50th minute. Lauren Mazurek made a perfect corner into the Wildcats box, which found Kayleigh Stahlschmidt’s foot. Stahlschmidt buried a one-timer into the net to give the Vivettes the lead.
“The ball was coming right to me,” Stahlschmidt said. “Just watching it out of the air I knew it was going right to my foot.”
Two minutes later, Visitation captain Abby O’Keefe ripped a 30-yarder into the net to make it 2-0.
“It just kind of popped out to me, and I knew I had the wind,” O’Keefe said. “I just took a strike at it.”
Neuqua Valley (0-1-1) was stunned by the one-two punch.
“We weren’t really ready for the other one, and we were still getting back (from the first goal),” Neuqua Valley midfielder Alyssa Bombacino said. “But we came right back after it.”
Visitation (1-1-0) almost put in a third in the 60th minute. O’Keefe had a free kick from 25 yards out, and Brynne Polivka put it just over the cross bar.
“Both of their goals, we were unmarked in the corner kick,” Moreau said. “That can’t happen. And then we gave them 20 yards of space in the middle. You can’t give a quality player, a quality team, that much time.”
Neuqua Valley turned it on in the game’s final 10 minutes.
Nicole Mondi forced Visitation goalkeeper Kat Zaber to come off her line to make a save on a free kick. Veda Tappin and Alison Dovalovsky also tested Zaber with quality chances.
“We got down a couple of goals, and we fought to the point where we fought harder when we were down. So maybe we were saving a little more than we should have been,” Moreau said.
Neuqua Valley had a couple of early opportunities in the first half, with the 25 mile per hour wind to its back.
Three minutes in, Haley Singer made a nice run for the Wildcats and launched a shot that was marked for the upper right corner that Zaber was able to grab.
“I think on the defensive side we did a good job,” Visitation coach Bill Daues said. “We were there when the forward got the ball, and we were there on first contact and we shut it down.”
Visitation controlled the ball for most of the first half and had most of the chances.
O’Keefe had a pair of tries from 25 yards, but couldn’t convert. O’Keefe also had a header off a late corner, but Neuqua Valley goalkeeper Yanel Ortiz came off her line to make the save.
The Wildcats had a chance on a counter in the final minute of the first half, but Zaber made a diving save on a Tappin shot.
“It’s fun for us,” Bombacino said. “We always want to come here and play the harder teams, and we got that today. It’s just going to get us ready for our season.”
Visitation, despite having the majority of quality scoring chances in the first half, went to halftime with nothing to show for it.
“Our coach is very encouraging,” Stahlschmidt said. “He told us to just get it in to the forwards more and make sure we get open.”
Daues definitely saw improvement from Visitation’s first game, a 4-0 loss to perennial Missouri power St. Joseph, which is ranked in the Top 10 of one national poll.
“I think we possessed it a little bit better,” Daues said. “We moved the ball both ways, horizontally and vertically, better than we did in our first game. We tweaked some things in our system, and hopefully we’ll continue to move on in the process.”
Polivka collided with Neuqua Valley’s Kailey Serna on a corner kick in the 70th minute. Neither player returned.
Daues said Polivka was headed to the hospital after the game to check for a concussion. She had a noticeable bump on her head following the game.
Moreau doesn’t believe Serna’s injury is serious. She will be held out of the Wildcats’ game Saturday, but he hopes to have Serna back for the game against Metea Valley (1-2-3) Tuesday.
For Neuqua Valley, the trip to St. Louis means more than wins and losses. The overnight trip provides a unique opportunity for team bonding.
That is especially important for the sophomore- and junior-laden Wildcats.
“The no. 1 reason we come down here is to try to bond as a team, get to know each other a little bit better,” Moreau said. “We have 11 new girls in the team. The bus ride down was kind of quiet, which was quite a change.”
After the game, Neuqua Valley headed back to its hotel for a pizza party. On Saturday, the Wildcats will take on another St. Louis-area team Cor Jesu (2-1-0), a conference rival of Visitation.
“We all get to know each other better and hopefully come out even stronger tomorrow,” Bombacino said.
Daues was impressed by the Wildcats, ranked no. 7 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and the state runner-up in Class 3A last season.
“We knew they have a reputation as a really good side,” Daues said. “We’re pretty young ourselves. We only play a couple of seniors, we’re mostly junior dominated. They were a bit younger than us even, but they had some very skilled players. They’re going to win a lot of games this year and down the road in a couple years they’re going to be a powerful side.”
Starting line-ups
Neuqua Valley
GK: Yanel Ortiz
D: Erin Sweda
D: Kailey Sernar
D: Emma Morgan
D: Nicole Mondi
MF: Alyssa Bombacino
MF: Shannon Tagler
MF: Veda Tappin
MF: Rachel Ehrmanr
F: Haley Singer
F: Sydney Rushing
Visitation (Mo.)
GK: Kat Zaber
D: Camryn Sprague
D: Brynne Polivka
D: Isabelle Spencer
MF: Caroline Davis
MF: Natalie Mackin
MR: Maddie Leopold
MF: Abby O’Keefe
F: Kayleigh Stahlschmidt
F: Jaimie Tottleben
F: Kailey Knopf
MVP – Abby O’Keefe, MF, Visitation
upends Neuqua Valley
Wildcats fall 2-0 in St. Louis college showcase
By Joe Harris
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – The dam finally burst for the Neuqua Valley defense.
Visitation scored twice in a two-minute span in the second half Friday, snapping a streak of more than 130 minutes of scoreless play to start the season for the Wildcats’ back third. The Vivettes rode the offensive salvo to a 2-0 victory over Neuqua Valley in the 15th Annual Parkway College Showcase at the Lou Fusz Soccer Complex.
“They’re a better team than us today,” Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. “They worked the ball pretty well. They played solid, hard defense, and they made us chase a lot.”
Visitation took a 1-0 lead off of a corner kick in the 50th minute. Lauren Mazurek made a perfect corner into the Wildcats box, which found Kayleigh Stahlschmidt’s foot. Stahlschmidt buried a one-timer into the net to give the Vivettes the lead.
“The ball was coming right to me,” Stahlschmidt said. “Just watching it out of the air I knew it was going right to my foot.”
Two minutes later, Visitation captain Abby O’Keefe ripped a 30-yarder into the net to make it 2-0.
“It just kind of popped out to me, and I knew I had the wind,” O’Keefe said. “I just took a strike at it.”
Neuqua Valley (0-1-1) was stunned by the one-two punch.
“We weren’t really ready for the other one, and we were still getting back (from the first goal),” Neuqua Valley midfielder Alyssa Bombacino said. “But we came right back after it.”
Visitation (1-1-0) almost put in a third in the 60th minute. O’Keefe had a free kick from 25 yards out, and Brynne Polivka put it just over the cross bar.
“Both of their goals, we were unmarked in the corner kick,” Moreau said. “That can’t happen. And then we gave them 20 yards of space in the middle. You can’t give a quality player, a quality team, that much time.”
Neuqua Valley turned it on in the game’s final 10 minutes.
Nicole Mondi forced Visitation goalkeeper Kat Zaber to come off her line to make a save on a free kick. Veda Tappin and Alison Dovalovsky also tested Zaber with quality chances.
“We got down a couple of goals, and we fought to the point where we fought harder when we were down. So maybe we were saving a little more than we should have been,” Moreau said.
Neuqua Valley had a couple of early opportunities in the first half, with the 25 mile per hour wind to its back.
Three minutes in, Haley Singer made a nice run for the Wildcats and launched a shot that was marked for the upper right corner that Zaber was able to grab.
“I think on the defensive side we did a good job,” Visitation coach Bill Daues said. “We were there when the forward got the ball, and we were there on first contact and we shut it down.”
Visitation controlled the ball for most of the first half and had most of the chances.
O’Keefe had a pair of tries from 25 yards, but couldn’t convert. O’Keefe also had a header off a late corner, but Neuqua Valley goalkeeper Yanel Ortiz came off her line to make the save.
The Wildcats had a chance on a counter in the final minute of the first half, but Zaber made a diving save on a Tappin shot.
“It’s fun for us,” Bombacino said. “We always want to come here and play the harder teams, and we got that today. It’s just going to get us ready for our season.”
Visitation, despite having the majority of quality scoring chances in the first half, went to halftime with nothing to show for it.
“Our coach is very encouraging,” Stahlschmidt said. “He told us to just get it in to the forwards more and make sure we get open.”
Daues definitely saw improvement from Visitation’s first game, a 4-0 loss to perennial Missouri power St. Joseph, which is ranked in the Top 10 of one national poll.
“I think we possessed it a little bit better,” Daues said. “We moved the ball both ways, horizontally and vertically, better than we did in our first game. We tweaked some things in our system, and hopefully we’ll continue to move on in the process.”
Polivka collided with Neuqua Valley’s Kailey Serna on a corner kick in the 70th minute. Neither player returned.
Daues said Polivka was headed to the hospital after the game to check for a concussion. She had a noticeable bump on her head following the game.
Moreau doesn’t believe Serna’s injury is serious. She will be held out of the Wildcats’ game Saturday, but he hopes to have Serna back for the game against Metea Valley (1-2-3) Tuesday.
For Neuqua Valley, the trip to St. Louis means more than wins and losses. The overnight trip provides a unique opportunity for team bonding.
That is especially important for the sophomore- and junior-laden Wildcats.
“The no. 1 reason we come down here is to try to bond as a team, get to know each other a little bit better,” Moreau said. “We have 11 new girls in the team. The bus ride down was kind of quiet, which was quite a change.”
After the game, Neuqua Valley headed back to its hotel for a pizza party. On Saturday, the Wildcats will take on another St. Louis-area team Cor Jesu (2-1-0), a conference rival of Visitation.
“We all get to know each other better and hopefully come out even stronger tomorrow,” Bombacino said.
Daues was impressed by the Wildcats, ranked no. 7 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and the state runner-up in Class 3A last season.
“We knew they have a reputation as a really good side,” Daues said. “We’re pretty young ourselves. We only play a couple of seniors, we’re mostly junior dominated. They were a bit younger than us even, but they had some very skilled players. They’re going to win a lot of games this year and down the road in a couple years they’re going to be a powerful side.”
Starting line-ups
Neuqua Valley
GK: Yanel Ortiz
D: Erin Sweda
D: Kailey Sernar
D: Emma Morgan
D: Nicole Mondi
MF: Alyssa Bombacino
MF: Shannon Tagler
MF: Veda Tappin
MF: Rachel Ehrmanr
F: Haley Singer
F: Sydney Rushing
Visitation (Mo.)
GK: Kat Zaber
D: Camryn Sprague
D: Brynne Polivka
D: Isabelle Spencer
MF: Caroline Davis
MF: Natalie Mackin
MR: Maddie Leopold
MF: Abby O’Keefe
F: Kayleigh Stahlschmidt
F: Jaimie Tottleben
F: Kailey Knopf
MVP – Abby O’Keefe, MF, Visitation
