FENTON – Four years ago, neither Elsberry/Silex nor Blair Oaks had a girls soccer program. On Saturday, they met to decide the Class 1 state champion.
Grace White scored a record-tying four goals and added an assist as Elsberry/Silex claimed its first state title with a 6-1 victory over Blair Oaks in the Class 1 Missouri State High School Activities Association championship game at Soccer Park.
Elsberry/Silex (18-2-1), which restarted its girls soccer program in 2023, scored at least five goals for the 15th time in 21 games.
“It was super-exciting to be out there. Our hard work is what got us here and it’s what pulled us through today,” said senior captain Klaire Thoroughman, who had no high school team to play for as a freshman.
Blair Oaks (16-8-1) did not have a girls soccer program until a group of sophomores presented a case to the school board as to why they should have a team. The Falcons went 3-19-1 during their first season in 2023. On Saturday, they played on the biggest stage in high school soccer.
“The growth of the program has been remarkable,” Blair Oaks coach Joren Trimble said. “I thought (a state championship game) could happen five, six, seven years down the road, but when you have a group of kids who are willing to show up every day, put in the work and get better, then it’s no surprise that were here.”
The high scoring Elsberry/Silex team had a pattern of non-explosive starts throughout the postseason, which included a 1-1 deadlock with Barstow at the 37-minute mark during a 5-2 state semifinal victory a day earlier.
“Our problem was that we were starting slow,” Elsberry/Silex coach Chris White said. “We switched up our warmup a little bit (Saturday), and I told them, ‘Let’s put the pedal to the metal. Let’s get them early.”
His daughter Grace needed only 24 seconds to begin her spectacular day, accepting a pass from freshman Ella Burbridge and drilling a shot into the right corner of the net.
“I wasn’t expecting a goal in the first minute, but it was a really nice change to show a team what we could do, very quickly,” Chris White said.
Grace White was not done putting on her show. In the 15th minute, she dragged three Blair Oaks defenders to her right, then reversed course and dribbled left before punishing a shot into the left corner for a 2-0 Elsberry/Silex lead.
“I knew it was going to be a hard game. I wanted to attack early and get something on the board, and that’s exactly what we were able to do as team,” said Grace White, who spent her freshman year at Timberland High in Wentzville before moving to Elsberry.
Chris White, a former ice hockey coach at Liberty University in Virginia, knew his daughter Grace wanted to play high school soccer in addition to club soccer, so he and his wife Nancy approached Elsberry High about restarting a team that had dissolved the previous year due to low numbers. With the addition of players from Silex High, the program was restarted. All it needed was a coach.
“My wife is a soccer player and she said, ‘My husband would love to coach,’ Chris White said. “I started reading books like ‘Soccer for Dummies,’ and through watching my wife and my daughter play, I learned a lot about the game.”
The confidence of White as a soccer coach and Elsberry/Silex as a team grew exponentially over three years. In their first season, the Indians lost to eventual state runner-up Villa Duchesne in the district title match. Last year, Elsberry/Silex shocked No. 1-ranked Metro in the district semifinal but lost in the district championship to Lutheran St. Charles.
“The first year, we went into the district championship game and said, ‘Let’s just try to scare them,’” Chris White said. “This year, we went into it and said, ‘We’re a good team and we can beat anybody.’ It’s been nice to see the progression over the three years of how our attitudes changed as coaches and players.”
Blair Oaks also showed rapid growth as a program. The Falcons went from three wins in their first season to 15 wins last year before making their magical run to Saturday’s Class 1 title game.
Midway through the first half, Blair Oaks sophomore Hattie Meldrum drew a foul and Mia Antweiller deposited a 30-yard free kick over the reach of Elsberry/Silex goalkeeper Nevaeh Flowers to slice the deficit to 2-1.
Both Meldrum and Antweiller jumped for joy in celebration, much like they did when they stood in the board room and heard that the motion to create a Blair Oaks girls soccer program had passed.
“It’s been a blast to watch it grow,” Trimble said of the program he has led since its inception in 2023. “The first year we couldn’t kick a ball, the second year we started learning how to kick the ball and this year we possessed the ball. The growth has been impressive to see.”
But nothing was more impressive Saturday than the skill and savvy of Grace White.
In the 28th minute, she delivered a long pass that freshman Ella Burbridge ran onto and slammed into the goal. In the 35th, White accepted a slick pass from sophomore Rylen Jensen, and while sliding onto the turf, pummeled a shot into the far corner. Less than a minute later, she performed another sliding shot that deflected off a defender and into the goal to give Elsberry/Silex a commanding 5-1 lead at intermission.
White’s four goals tied a state championship game record and her nine points set the all-time mark for championship game point-production.
She finished the season with 68 goals and 20 assists, figuring in on 88 of the 112 goals scored by the Indians. Her ability to create space, even when defenders are draped on her, often leaves teammates, opponents and spectators wondering, ‘How?’
“It’s probably my footwork. Being able to put my quickness and my footwork together, being able to turn on defenders really fast and use my speed, that’s how I’ve been able to get to goal,” she said. “And without my teammates getting me the ball, I wouldn’t get those opportunities.”
Burbridge scored 21 goals and Jensen reached double-digits by netting her 10th late in the second half of the state title game.
“Last year we only had two of the three, and I really think having (Burbridge) as that third scorer has helped us get this far,” senior captain Klaire Thoroughman said.
The contributions of Burbridge, combined with a year of growth from other players, allowed Chris White to tweak the Indians’ playing style this season.
“Our philosophy changed. Last year we tried to be more pretty and this year we simplified our game. We have a lot of speed up top and our girls have good shots. We wanted to get the ball up the field quickly and let our gifted people do their thing,” Chris White said.
And the gift for taking the plunge into girls soccer for both Elsberry/Silex and Blair Oaks is a state trophy to take home and display proudly in their schools.
“I’m just really grateful for this experience,” Grace White said.
For a full photo gallery of this game, visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Girls-Soccer-2023-24/Girls-Soccer-2025/Elsberry-vs-Blair-Oaks-Class-1-championship