FENTON – Ursuline senior Natalie Druger made eye contact with junior MaryClaire Imig after the Bears surrendered the opening goal to Webster Groves during the Class 3 District 2 championship girls soccer match on Saturday.
Prior to putting the ball in play, Druger uttered three words.
“It’s go time,” Imig recalled.
Imig scored twice and Druger assisted on the game-deciding goal as Ursuline defeated Webster Groves 3-2 to win the Class 3 District 2 championship Saturday at Rockwood Summit High.
Ursuline (15-5-1), which extended its unbeaten streak to 13 consecutive games, will travel to St. Vincent (16-4) for a Class 3 quarterfinal on Saturday, May 27 at a time to be determined.
Webster Groves (15-5) entered the contest riding its own 12-game winning streak. In playoff victories over Ladue and Cor Jesu, the Statesmen proved equally adept at generating offense by possessing the ball and by booting it deep and chasing it.
Webster Groves chose the latter strategy on Saturday, and it helped produce the opening goal of the game. Senior Tori Gray blasted a ball from midfield, freshman Ella Bredensteiner chased it down and sophomore Fiona Kelly slammed it into the net in the 31st minute.
But the increased energy that often sweeps over the scoring team was seized instead by an Ursuline squad ready for “go time.”
Less than two minutes later, junior Julia Lammert landed a 60-yard free kick into the center of the box where Imig found it and drove it into the net to tie the score at 1.
“Since I’m left-footed, I try to swing it in and curve it to the back post so (my teammates) can get a touch on it,” Lammert said.
Lammert continued to swing the pendulum of momentum in Ursuline’s favor when she perfectly placed a 30-yard free kick into a dangerous area that Imig located again.
Imig’s shot hit the crossbar and dropped to the ground where she and Taylor Zarinelli found a way to nudge it over the goal line to give the Bears two goals in a seven-minute span and a 2-1 advantage at halftime.
“It hit the crossbar, and I just wanted the ball in the back of the net, so I did everything I could to get my body behind it,” Imig said.
Druger, who deftly controlled the midfield throughout the game, became an offensive force early in the second half by blasting dangerous shots towards Webster Groves goalie Emma Storck from 25 yards away.
The first line drive from Druger was smothered by the two-handed grip of Storck, but moments later, a second Druger shot squirted slightly out of Storck’s diving grasp. Junior Ava Balee nudged it away from her reach and deposited it into the net in the 54th minute to give Ursuline a 3-1 lead.
“I just stuck with it and toe-poked it in,” Balee said.
It was the third time that Ursuline pounced on a loose ball in the box and sent it into the net.
“Ursuline is a very good team. They got some good breaks and good teams capitalize on opportunities like that,” Webster Groves coach Matt Hearty said.
Meanwhile, senior Maria VanCardo, junior Bella Daus and the Ursuline defenders outraced the speedy Statesmen forwards to the deep balls and turned the long-ball attack of Webster Groves in the opposite direction.
“They did a lot of kicking over our heads, so we wanted to stay behind the ball,” VanCardo said. “It’s not always easy to defend, but I thought we did a good job. We wanted to do it for each other.”
For Ursuline coach Theresa Kaiser, the ability of Ursuline players to use their heads, both literally and figuratively, helped the Bears succeed on Saturday.
“I knew (Webster Groves) was going to kick long and we’re not used to that. I tried to encourage our girls to use their head, and I thought our head balls were very good,” Kaiser said. “And when it got physical, I thought we played better and kept the energy high.”
The effectiveness of the Ursuline defense forced a change in the Webster Groves method of attack. In the second half, the Statesmen tried to find the feet of junior Ella Esson, who had scored the game-winning goal in playoff wins over Ladue and Cor Jesu.
Esson’s ability to carry the ball through the midfield generated scoring chances for the Statesmen, including a loose ball scrum in the box that senior Tori Gray booted into the net to close the deficit to 3-2 with 10 minutes remaining.
The final 10 minutes were intense and physical, as both teams left nothing in the tank.
“That was torture,” Druger said of the final minutes. “We knew we had to possess. Our legs were getting heavy and we knew that we couldn’t let our legs get the best of us.”
A blind, turn-around shot by Bredensteiner from 28 yards away grazed off the crossbar, and a final free kick attempt by senior Gretchen Daves was hugged tightly by Ursuline goalie Ava Ermold in the final minute.
Ursuline, which began the season with a 1-4 record, has scored 43 goals (3.3 gpg) during its current 13-game unbeaten streak.
“We knew we had so much individual talent, but we weren’t a team yet,” Imig said of the slow start. “We’ve grown so much, and we play for each other.”
The season-turnaround continued Saturday by winning a District 2 tournament that housed five teams ranked in the top-eight in Missouri Class 3.
“It was an intimidating lineup, but our schedule prepared us,” Druger said.
And the Bears certainly were prepared after yielding the first goal on Saturday.
“We knew we couldn’t put our heads down,” Druger said. “It was go time.”
