The girls soccer team fought the reigning district champions, St. Dominic Crusaders, for the Class 4 district title on Friday, May 20. Sadly for the Eagles, St. Dominic claimed another district title by defeating them 4-0, and the Eagles placed second.

The competition was intense for the first fifteen minutes or so of the first half, until St. Dominic broke past the defense and put one past goalkeeper sophomore Sydney Strassemeier, shifting the momentum into the Crusaders favor. From that point on, the Crusaders had the drive to increase the difference between their score and the Eagles. 

Senior Tess Roberts attempted to take the momentum back after the offense had a good run and Roberts fired a shot from outside the box, right into the top corner of the goal. St. Dominic’s keeper caught the ball, seemingly in the goal, and the referees didn’t count the goal. With this attempt on goal not working out for the Eagles, the offense struggled the rest of the game to shift any momentum their way.

As the Crusaders were getting more and more confident, the Eagles defense had to work harder and harder to keep them out of the goal. Junior Alexis Shuster was one of the only defenders between the attackers and the goalie in many instances, and tried her best to stop the many St. Dominic players rushing the goal. 

On the offensive side, Roberts and junior Rachel Skyberg were aggressive throughout the game, looking for a shot on goal or a pass to move the offense forward. Sadly, with the Eagles top-scorer, junior Morgan Struttmann, double teamed throughout the majority of the game, the offense found it very hard to get controlled shots off on goal. 

With the majority of the game being played on the Eagles’ defensive half of the field, many players got tired of keeping up with the aggressiveness of the Crusaders, which led to many more goals for the reigning champs. Defensemen Shuster and senior Amira Khayyat played their hardest throughout the game, but it wasn’t enough to keep St. Dominic from putting shots in the goal. 

The girls soccer team ended their season with a record of 17-6-1, almost identical to last year’s season. The difference this year was the drive of the team and how they worked together, but most importantly that the Eagles beat St. Dominic for the first time in school history.

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