EDWARDSVILLE - Senior forward Maddie Hawley headed a ball into the corner of the net after 72 minutes to give Edwardsville a hard-fought 1-0 win over Collinsville in the IHSA Class 3A girls soccer regional final Friday evening at Tiger Stadium,
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
The match was an intense and sometimes physical affair where both teams' defense were packed in tight. As the game went on, the Tigers had the better of the play and got the goal to move on in the tournament.
"I'm feeling good," said Edwardsville head coach Abby Federmann. "Our momentum is going forward, and we need that going into O'Fallon. We knew it was going to be a battle; it always is with Collinsville. We knew it was going to be back and forth, and it was just a matter of who was going to put it in the net first. And thankfully, we did."
Anna Singh set up Hawley with a great pass that Hawley was able to use her height to head past Kahok goalie Sydney Sommer into the net in the 72nd minute for the only goal of the match.
"There was a nice pass from Anna Singh," Federmann said, "went up in the air, Maddie is about a foot taller than the keeper, and she was able to head it over the keeper into the corner."
Although the game was physical, the Tigers held their cool very well and kept their composure.
"I think we held our composure pretty well," Federmann said. "We got the calls we deserved, and we got the calls against us that we deserved, and it's just a gritty, hard-nosed game. So I'm thrilled at the outcome. It's hard to beat a good team like that three times, and we've got to do it again next week. We've got to beat O'Fallon twice now."
The first 20 minutes of the match played out evenly and intense, as things got somewhat physical, with the two defenses not allowing very good chances. In the 24th minute, Olivia Baca went for a run and had a good shot, but Sommer was there to make the save. In the 35th minute, the Tiger defense held a good chance by Collinsville at bay, clearing the ball out of danger. Late in the first half, after a shoving match, the Kahoks' Morgan Rader was booked for a hard push as the first half ended goalless.
Both teams had god chances in the opening five minutes of the second half, but the defenses clamped down on the opportunities. As the half went on, Edwardsville began taking control of the play, getting some great chances, and it all paid off in the 72nd minute, when Hawley got to Singh's pas in the air and deftly headed it past Sommer into the right corner of the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. The Kahoks had some good chances, and in the final minutes, drove everyone into attack to get an equalizer, but goalie Kaitlyn Naney and her defense stood tall as the Tigers won.
The Kahoks season ended at 11-8-0, while Edwardsville is now 11-3-0 and advances to the sectional semifinal on Tuesday night at O'Fallon, who defeated Granite City 4-0 at home to advance. The Tigers-Panthers match will be played Tuesday at OTHS Panther Stadium with the kickoff time to be announced. Federmann is expecting another tough contest with the O'Fallon side, with the two teams having split their conference games in the regular season.
"They're good," Federmann said. "They beat us hard and bad last time, so we're going to have to make some adjustments, and try to stop their counterattack, because it's very fast. So I'm expecting a good game of soccer."
And just the fact that there is a postseason has given everyone in both the area and the state a huge boost, and Federmann is very grateful for the chance.
"Absolutely," Federmann said. "So we'll see how far we get."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
More like this:
