FENTON- St. Joseph’s junior Maggie Drozda spent a year hoping for another chance.
Last season, in a heartbreaking loss in the district championship game, Drozda had an opportunity to tie the score in the final minutes with a 21-yard free kick and missed the frame.
It was the only loss of the season for St. Joe’s, and a bitter one.
“It stuck with me, so I practiced that shot over and over again, all summer, all year and it’s kind of become my shot now,” Drozda said.
All she needed was a chance to show it, and in the fifth minute of overtime during the Class 3 championship game on Saturday, Drozda lined up an almost identical, 21-yard free kick to the one she missed a year earlier.
“I knew how to hit that shot. I practiced it a million times, over and over again,” Drozda said.
Drozda transformed heartbreak into triumph by ripping her shot into the upper left corner of the net to give St. Joe’s a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over Fort Zumwalt South in the Class 3 state championship match at Soccer Park in Fenton.
St. Joseph’s (18-3-2), which won its eighth soccer title and first since 2014, gave retiring, 36-year coach Maureen McVey a championship sendoff in her final match.
The impending retirement of McVey, combined with the sudden ending of last season and a No. 1 state ranking throughout this season, provided more than enough incentive for the Angels.
“We did feel a bit of pressure, but ultimately, it was desire,” junior Olivia Kaiser said. “We played as if we wouldn’t get another chance.”
That sense of urgency was apparent from the outset on Saturday. Drozda had the first glorious chance when her blistering shot pinged off the intersection of the left post and crossbar. Moments later, Drozda delivered a corner kick that senior Carson Bennett headed inches over the crossbar.
“We were all over it,” Kaiser said. “We’ve been at a point this season where missing those has led to frustration, but that’s been one of the turning points. We’ve changed that and now we use it as motivation.”
Feeding off the energy of the excellent start, St. Joseph’s continued to press and was rewarded when a pass from senior Riley Walshauser was directed goalward by the right foot of Kaiser and scuttled into the corner of the net to give the Angels the first goal in the 23rd minute.
“I wasn’t expecting it to go in because I didn’t hit it that hard, but I guess I placed it well enough,” Kaiser said.
Fort Zumwalt South (18-6-1), a Soccer Park staple playing in its fourth state title game in five years, remained unfazed. The Bulldogs gradually slowed the St. Joseph’s surge, then pounced. Sophomore Jenna Mehrhoff delivered a pass to a streaking Alaina Ward, who found the far corner of the net to even the score at 1 in the 33rd minute.
“It was back and forth with so many momentum shifts throughout the game,” Fort Zumwalt South coach LeAnne Sanders said. “It was exactly what you want a state championship to be. It was a great battle,”
Before halftime, Drozda faced a pair of troubling sequences. First, she barely missed wide on a free kick from 21-yards away, the distance from which she had tirelessly practiced. Later, she was issued a yellow card, forcing her to play the entirety of the second half and overtime with the ominous possibility of another heartbreaking scenario.
But the Angels emerged from halftime with wave after wave of pressure. A shot from in tight by sophomore Ellie Hannis barely drifted over the crossbar, and a rocket from Drozda required a diving save from Fort Zumwalt South goalkeeper Jenna Walkenhorst.
Drozda had seven shot attempts and three shots on goal during regulation but did not find the back of the net.
“My teammates and coaches have helped me work through that. I’ve learned not to turn those missed opportunities into frustration, and instead say, ‘Ok, we’ve got the momentum now, we’re getting the chances we need, and it will come for us.’”
Fort Zumwalt South sophomore and leading scorer Brielle Gilbert also generated excellent chances in the second half and in overtime, most notably, a searing rocket that required a brilliant save by St. Joseph’s junior keeper Ella Moersch midway through the second half. Moersch made five saves, three from dangerous shots off the foot of Gilbert.
To start overtime, Fort Zumwalt South tilted the field in its direction, but St. Joseph’s withstood the initial push, then earned the free kick opportunity that Drozda had dreamed of trying once again.
“I could feel my team’s confidence in me, those on the field, off the field and in the stands too. That confidence from everyone else gave me the confidence I needed,” Drozda said.
For Fort Zumwalt South, which lost 13 seniors to graduation from last season’s third place team, the overtime loss did not diminish the Bulldogs’ impressive accomplishments this year.
“When you lose that many seniors, you go into the next season knowing that it could look totally different, but our returning members really set the tone that we’re here, this is the Bulldog level and we’re going to continue it. To see the younger girls step up to that and meet that challenge, that’s huge,” Sanders said.
For St. Joseph’s, the journey to an elusive state title provided a feeling of redemption.
“We tied our very first game (this season) and then we had a couple losses, and I think that prepared us. Last year, our only loss was in the playoffs, but this year we knew how bad (losing) felt and we knew we did not want to repeat it,” Drozda said.
And, as for the shot she spent the last year practicing?
“It really paid off,” she said.
For a photo gallery of this game, visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Girls-Soccer-2023-24/Girls-Soccer-2025/St-Josephs-vs-Fort-Zumwalt-South-Class-3-championship