Hazelwood Central Girls Soccer Loses Classic Battle

Maybe it was the hard, fast, early spring field at Parkway West that put the girls off their game. It took the Pioneers almost 100 minutes to find the net and beat 1-0 on Friday night.

The Parkway College Showcase game gave any watching college coaches a long look, as the Pioneers (3-3) and the Hawks (2-7) battled scoreless through regulation time, one overtime, and all but one minute and 21 seconds of the second sudden-death overtime, when Kirkwood sophomore Alex Jones one-touched the ball into the net.

“Disappointing end, but I’m proud of the way we competed,” Hawks coach Pat Rocco said. “That’s the second game this season that we’ve lost with less than a couple of minutes left in the second overtime, so bottom line is we got to find a way to get a goal. The defense played great. I thought we played really hard and I was proud of them.”

Rocco was very happy with his sophomore goalie, Alexis Chappelle. “She made good decisions on when to come off her line and when to come out and get the ball. She did a real good job, and that last one, it was a good goal for them.”

Jones, after the lengthy match, said, "I think we spent a lot of the game when we really weren’t able to connect with the ball, and on that last one we finally clicked together as a team and were able to knock it around,” Jones said.

“Alex did a great job of getting to the ball and flicking that on, and not trying to settle it,” Kirkwood head coach Phil Cotta said. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is that little first touch.”

The Pioneers took advantage of a penalty situation to get the ball to junior Rachel Kibby, who took it in the air and found Jones in front of the net.

The momentum switched throughout the game, and both coaches agreed that Hazelwood won the majority of the 50-50 balls.

Hazelwood Central continues play in the event on Saturday against Poplar Bluff at 2:30 p.m. at Soccer Park in Fenton (field No. 3).