FENTON – Fort Zumwalt South junior Ella Vaughn put the goal celebration in her rearview mirror and dribbled the ball to the midfield stripe.
The Bulldogs had developed multiple scoring opportunities, but it was St. Michael the Archangel that scored the first goal midway through the second half of the Class 3 championship game Saturday.
“I honestly never thought that we were going to lose that game,” Vaughn said. “I always had faith that we would come back.”
Vaughn scored the game-tying goal and Jenna Mehrhoff drained the game-winner as Fort Zumwalt South mounted a furious comeback to defeat St. Michael the Archangel 2-1 and win its fourth state title in six years at the Class 3 MSHSAA State Championships Saturday at Soccer Park.
Fort Zumwalt South (22-3) trailed in both its semifinal and championship matches before mounting comeback victories.
“The second they score, that fire just lights,” senior captain Mary Morrison said.
The Bulldogs launched 10 shots at the St. Michael goal in the first half, including four on target by junior Brielle Gilbert, but the St. Michael defense, led by Drake commit Addi Basler, consistently bothered the final touch. When shots got through, freshman goalkeeper Izzy Gamboa made several, difficult saves.
“They missed some good opportunities, but I have to give my defense credit, they were making it ugly, and (Gamboa) made some big saves and kept us in the game,” St. Michael the Archangel coach Rob Putthoff said.
Still scoreless through 60 minutes, Putthoff used the second half hydration break to offer a suggestion to two players that seemed less exhausted, freshman Wytnee Herrmann and senior Lydia McVey.
“I knew Wytnee had a lot of speed up top, and I told Lydia, ‘The next time you get the ball in midfield space, put it in behind the defense and let’s see what happens,’” Putthoff said.
Less than a minute later, McVey delivered a long pass, Herrmann ran onto it and St. Michael led 1-0 with 19:29 remaining.
“We talked about it before they went out and it happened to fall right in our laps. I couldn’t believe it,” Putthoff said. “But I knew we had a long 19 minutes ahead of us.”
That long 19 minutes began before the clock started, as a determined Vaughn dribbled the ball to the midfield stripe to restart play.
“I get riled up in these situations, and I just knew my team needed a goal. It was all motivation for my teammates,” Vaughn said.
First, Vaughn punched a shot from just inside the box that chimed the intersection of the post and crossbar. Two minutes later, she dribbled between multiple defenders and fired a shot that snuck into the corner of the goal to tie the score at 1 with just over 15 minutes to play.
“I feel like (Gamboa) got a hand on in, but it had good pace and it found a corner. It was a great shot,” Putthoff said.
With just over seven minutes remaining, the Bulldogs earned a corner kick and employed an interesting alignment. Gilbert stood in front of the goal as the only player from Fort Zumwalt South in the entire penalty area. When sophomore Araceli Perez launched the ball from the corner flag, only senior Skylar Atienza and junior Jenna Mehrhoff pursued.
It created a relatively uncrowded, furious scramble for the ball inside the box.
“(Atienza) went in front of me. It went over her head and bounced, and I knew I had to get something on it,” Mehrhoff said. “I took it off my stomach, I saw the keeper coming at me and I saw a little opening in the corner.”
Mehrhoff outdueled defenders to the ball, patiently found the open corner and delivered the go-ahead goal with 7:03 to play.
“That goal was just grit, messy,” Vaughn said. “Less than 10 minutes left, state championship on the line, you know it has to go in.”
The final seven minutes showed the poise that Fort Zumwalt South has exemplified during its remarkable six-year run. A slick interception by Morrison and a courageous blocked shot by freshman Lindsey Griffin preserved the fourth state title since 2021 for the Bulldogs.
“It’s exciting. It is our team chemistry. Instead of putting each other down, we really build each other up,” Morrison said. “We work together. It’s not just one or two people that our team relies on, it’s the whole team. We all won together.”
Adding to that team chemistry was a collective desire to erase the bad taste of last season, when the Bulldogs lost the Class 3 state title game in overtime to St. Joseph’s.
“It pushed us a little harder. After last year, losing in overtime and getting second, we didn’t want that feeling again,” Mehrhoff said.
For St. Michael (19-4), the championship game appearance was hard-earned and the championship effort was commendable.
The Guardians ousted defending final four participant Notre Dame de Sion to advance out of their district, then outlasted No. 3 ranked St. Pius X (KC) in overtime to reach the final four for the third time since 2021.
“We had to battle just to get out of Kansas City, and we knew if we played Zumwalt South, we’d have our hands full,” Putthoff said. “We had a gameplan and it worked for 65 minutes. You need a little luck to win games like this. We battled, but we just didn’t have that extra luck.”
He added, “It’s been exciting. We thought this team could get here, and if you told me at the beginning of the season that we’d be 0-0 with Zumwalt South at halftime of the state championship, we’d have taken it.”
And for Zumwalt South, the legacy continues. A legacy that includes four state championships in six seasons, with a second and third place finish mixed in.
“We have skillful players, and we were able to put it all together to make this happen,” Mehrhoff said.
And as Vaughn stood in line and awaited her championship medal, she reflected on the journey.
“It’s the program. The coaches build this program up, and you just follow after the people in front of you,” Vaughn said. “And standing in the opposite spot last year was a lot of motivation for all of us.”
For a photo gallery of this game, visit the link below: