TOC Championship

29 April, Game 13:  vs. St. Charles North in Burlington in Championship Match of Bracket A. (1-1)

We were not even sure this match would start. Temperatures were 40 or such, wind 22, and rain brisk. If you ask any of the girls, they would tell you it was worse than that. 

But we agreed to play. The tournament director declared our round of games would be the last games of the day and our games would be 30-minute halves. 

They ended up with the wind—and there was wind—first. We got a little bamboozled as the refs were late and there was no toss. But the conditions weren't going to change much, so we went with it. 

Klanke got us up early, but we just couldn't make it stand. They shot as if they had the wind (oh, they did): some space and 30 or better. They rang up one of their long ones midway in the half to tie it. 

I really compliment our girls for wearing their big-girl pants, as it was brutal out there. We worked our tail off denying shots and closing space that first half.  And Mac had several big plays in goal.

So we seemed in great shape, tied and getting a full half of that breeze. I can't complain the game was called, as I was in on the decision to end it early. 4 minutes into the second half, St. Charles North had a girl go down. She lay on the ground screaming for 3-4 minutes. They carried her off with what may or may not have been an ACL tear. 

Both teams were upset by the injury, and we had to look at risk. Rightly or wrongly, I agreed with the ref's suggestion along with SCN coach to call it there. 

BWhite Player of the match was Hania Crow. She was a key factor in us getting to half, 1-1. She and her back line are just workers. 

So a co-championship. 

And a great trip to Iowa that included a very good talent show where the seniors squeaked out a win over a very, very good junior performance. 

STATS:

First Half:  Saints: Shots: 4 (2). Corners. 1. (Klanke)

28:32. Klanke (Katelyn find Hallie on the check)

SCN. Shots:  9 (4). Corners. 5. 

14:12 Rydberg. (Centerback finds her feet as she dribbles quickly forward before launching it from 30 high and over the keeper)

Second Half:  Saints. Shots: 5 (3). Corners. 0. 

SCN. Shots: 1 (0). Corners: 0. 

 

Talent Show 2017

TOC: Semis

Game 12:  vs. Collinsville in semifinals of TOC in Burlington

We moved on to the semifinals against previously #1 in the country, Collinsville, and I guess they could have written the same, in reverse. 

And it looked like it. Despite temperatures in the low 40's with a constant drizzle, this was a very good soccer match. 

We were down 1-0 into the second half of the second half. But we had battled all match, creating a handful of good opportunities. 

Katelyn found Klanke with a nice pass with under 16 to go, but a defender deflected her first shot away from the goal, but Hallie, with just a dogged effort found the rebound and got us tied with a beautiful left-footed strike. 

And then we STAed them to win as Hallie attacked the baseline, getting inside the box before sliding a great ball through Anna Woltering. And Janky wins it. 

And if there isn't a word like Klankjankski, we need one as she was the BWhite Player of the Match. Enough said. 

I also want to give a special shoutout to us defensively. Our scouts basically had us ready for an offensive attack "better than Maize last year," and they did have special offensive weapons, like that. But our keepers, back 4 and our midfield denied space well, working their tail off. 

On to the finals against undefeated St. Charles North out of Chicago—#5 in the country. 11:30 tomorrow. 

But tonight, TALENT SHOW.

STATS. 

Saints:  First Half: Shots: 6(4) Corners: 3 (Katelyn, Klanke 2)

Collinsville: Shots: 6 (5) Corner: 1

9:45 Horton (nice chip down the line to create the T-ball that Frecker shoots off Mac on the diving save for a backside rebound. (Yes, our video misses the best parts of the goal).

Second Half:  Saints: Shots: 7 (6) Corners: 2 (Mallory, Katelyn)

15:31 Klanke (Golubski goes wide to Katelyn who finds Klanke for some nifty footwork before shot off defender that she wins, settles and hammers with her left)

6:15 Janke (Klanke T's it back through Woltering) GWG

TOC Round 1

Game 11:  27 April vs. Quincy in Burlington IA (4-0)

We opened the Tournament of Champions with a good win, a win that allowed all to contribute. Quincy fell 2-0 last week to St. Joseph, and their defensive tenacity was evident. 

BWhite named Isa Yanes the BWhite Player of the Match. Yes, she netted two goals, but how many times did she have that back post framed or get her head or foot on a corner? Plenty. 

In fact, the girls generated 14 corners (Woltering and Kimball created 4 each). No, we did not score, but we were awfully close. Step 1. 

The only negative in the game (and it is a big one) was the injury to El Kimball. We will pray that it is not serious.  She was a big part of two of our goals tonight.

We will meet former #1 Collinsville tomorrow morning at 10:00. 

STATS:  Saints:  Shots: 10 (8). Corners. 5 (Kimball 2. Jackson. Klanke. Katelyn)

35:26. Klanke. (Pigott slots it) GWG

0:28. Yanes. (Heying's throw results in Kimball's drop to a Marge shot that is saved down to the back post)

Quincy:  shots. 0. Corners. 0

Second. Saints:  13 (9). Corners. 9. (Woltering 4. Kimball 2. Janky. Katelyn. Klanke). 

18:12. Yanes. (Woltering squared it to the back post after receiving it on a nice long pass from EL Kimball). 

14:23. Bryson. (Jackson chips it, but the header out goes to Bryson foot for the quick flick back on)

EKL Horror

Game 10: 25 April vs. Mill Valley at STA (0-1)

I was just talking to a reporter today from Burlington who asked me how we had won seven straight state titles.  I said well, for sure we needed some luck as we all know how soccer goes—there are always those games where you outshoot, outplay a team and lose 1-0.

Well, tonight we did lose to a good Mill Valley team but we did outshoot them 26-2, and they did not earn a single corner. Both of their shots came off counters to our deadballs. The one they got in the first half was not dangerous, but early in the second half, they got one-on-one with Mac with one nice diagonal ball from Ella, countering our throw-in. So. 

And the Jag's keeper stopped 2 shots on the same breakaway from Klanke. So, I will say their keeper made a couple of pretty great plays right there.  Klanke is usually money. But back to my original point. It's soccer.

We were awful in our 4-3-3 during the last 15 minutes I will say. So I will give myself a solid "D-" in coaching. We made the game even during those last 15 minutes while in the 4-3-3 and I had Marge off the field for 10 minutes. How bad was that? Bad—as she and Kelley had so much possession, and all of that disappeared in the 4-3-3. (It is hard for Marge to possess much from the bench.)

So, nice win for the Jags (those two centerbacks played very, very well too).  

BWhite named Alex Moss as the BWhite Player of the Match. She was solid all night and she got forward—even in the last-gasp attack, she laid a nice ball right on the back post.

We need to regroup as we have a big weekend at Nationals. We will probably get another chance at Mill Valley, later.

STATS:

First Half:

Saints:  14 (5) Corners: 4 (Klanke 2, K. Heying 2)

Jags: Shots 1 (1) Corners: 0

Second Half:  Saints: Shots: 12 (4) Corners: 4 (Klanke 2, Raunig, Romme)

Jags: Shots: 2 (1) Corners 0

31:40 Freeman (Ella counters our throw-in with a nice diagonal ball to create a nice one-on-one breakaway.)

EKL vs. BVN

Game 9: 20 April vs. Blue Valley North at Home (2-1)

Wow.  We played pretty well in the first half of the match. North may have gotten a shot off, did not earn a corner.  We got a couple of goals cashed, maybe should have cashed another one, but still pretty sharp, holding most of the possession.

Well, all of that got us was a different BV North approach in the second half. They went high pressure and direct, with an extra midfielder. For us, we needed to go through it as no one has approached the match that way in a long, long time.

And the Mustangs were successful.  They did earn corners, they did get shots off—hey, they even scored on a corner, or rather we scored for them on a corner.

What can we take away from the match? We need to settle down, find feet, receive a ball and turn away from pressure—pretty basic stuff, but not in real time. We miscleared balls, creating more balls immediately back on us. We turned into pressure, immediately losing the ball. So all those little things we knew to do, we did not do.  So settle down and just play.

So hopefully, the second half becomes one of the most important halves of the season for us.

BWhite named Caroline Romme that BWhite Player of the Match, but he gave two huge shoutouts: one to Nicole McEnroe in goal. (Wow, how about the parry over the goal?) And another to freshman Kate Goza.  Learning from her work in the Divine Savior match, we inserted her at the top of the diamond—that changed things.  We started winning the ball; from that 20-minute mark in the second half, we took the game back over. (Of course, they did create a 1 v 1 with the keeper with a minute or so to go; we won't count that one.)

STATS:

Saints: Shots: 4 (2) Corners: 2

22:50 Kimball (Marge pushes it forward into a miss-clear that goes square)

19:36 Mallory (Mustangs can't clear it)

Mustangs: Shots: 1 (0) Corners: 0

Second Half:

Shots: 2 (0) Corners: 1

Mustangs: Shots: 10 (4) Corners: 4

31:04 Own Goal (Corners bends in and hits off as few as 1 and as many as 3 of our defender to go in)

10 Days Off

Game 8: vs. Gardner at Gardner (9-0)

It did take us a while to get going as we had to adjust to the Gardner trap and some very fine goalkeeping. But we did end up with a stat-fest.

Probably one of the coolest things about tonight's match was the fact that 3 girls made their varsity debuts tonight: Amanda Hamm (finally), Molly Hartnett, and Meg Ramaekers.  And . . . all did well. 2 frosh and 1 sophomore.

BWhite named Mallory Heying the BWhite Player of the Match.  She broke the trap dribbling through it several times, put a beautiful deadball in for the header, moved the ball quickly in the midfield, and she just made tackle after tackle. Quite a display. (Oh, and she tallied 3 assists.)

We probably played our last girls' soccer game with Gardner for a while as they move to the Sunflower League next season. Those final 20 minutes of the first half is what we should really take away from this match. 

The team took Coach Hammons pretty seriously as he asked for a defensive game without giving up a shot.  We held them to 2.

Coach Cochran steps down after this season. We will miss him. He did a great job with the program. We wish him well!

STATS:

First Half:  Saints: Shots: 19 (15) Corners: 5 (K. Heying, Kimball 2, Woltering, Linder)

22:37 Klanke (McEnroe lifts the long put to the front third) GWG 4th

11:16 Jackson (Klanke hits the through ball as Jackson comes from the third line)

10:50 Pigott (Mallory dribbles through to "T" it through the Klanke dummy)

7:07 Klanke (Mallory finds her through)

3:06 Yanes (We run the throw-in and drop it back to Mallory for the cross)

1:11 K. Heying (Goza heaves the long throw to Klanke who drives it in and slides it across)

Gardner: Shots: 0 Corners: 0

Second Half:  Saints: Shots: 22 (13) Corners: 6 (Woltering, Romme, Klanke 2, Kimball 2)

35:48 Jackson  (Crow chips the corner back in)

6:59 Klanke (Free Kick as Kimball is crushed from behind)

4:52 Yanes (Pk earned by EL Kimball)

Gardner: Shots 2 (1) Corners: 0

In From Milwaukee

Game 7: at STA vs. Divine Savior (4-0)

We got the chance to simulate the state tournament with a 2:00 start today, Saturday, after a 6:30 Friday night match.  And we passed the test. We downed #27 in the US, Divine Savior, 4-0 on a very windy, April day.

We were fortunate enough to have the wind first half and to have Hallie as she was part of all 3 goals (And the BWhite Player of the Match with a shoutout to Crow and Romme who have put in back-to-back 80-minute shutouts from the centerback spot).

DS is very technical. And they are a big team, bigger than us.  But we did a good job of controlling the middle of the field and denying them anything dangerous.

We played lots of players, and each of them found a way to give us a great contribution when they were on the field.  For example, Kate Goza played right back and then the top of the diamond. And well.

Elle Kimball created amazingly 5 corner kicks for the match.

STATS:

First Half:

Saints: Shots: 12 (8) Corners: 4 (Kimball 3, Calvert)

31:40 K. Heying (Klanke T's it through the Marge dummy)

29:43 Janky (We put the repeat performance up quickly with Klanke T'ing it as K. Heying drags defenders towards the front post)

1:28 Klanke (Yanes plays the corner and Hallie makes an amazing run-down of the ball, only to outdo that with the shot.)

Second Half:

Saints: 6 (2) Corners: 3 (Kimball 2, K. Heying)

22:35 Romme (Linder bends the righty in)

2017 PINKOUT

Game 6: 7 April vs. St. James at Saint Thomas Aquinas (3-0)

The day is always greater than the match, and this year became really special as all teams joined forces to create PinkOut Week at STA, culminating in Friday's Wigs Out followed by softball vs. St. James and finally us vs. St. James. Check out the pregame walk, etc.

 

Our parent group headed by Mrs. Janky and Mrs. McEnroe (with lots of helpers)  just did a tremendous job of making the field look special.  And BWhite (who coordinated all of the week for the school) arranged for the girls to have new uniforms for the event. The girls looked good, and they looked very good.

We ended up playing St. James in the final game of the Mo-Kan, but tonight's match had to be close to our best soccer.  We put up 27 shots, with St. James only offering up 2, with zero on goal and zero in the second half.  

Our enthusiasm level ("enthusiasm trumps all") was off the charts.  BWhite thought "the team" played so well that he named "The Team" BWhite Player of the Match. 

St. James wore some ribbons as a tribute to Elizabeth Romme (just a great gesture). This year's monies went to the organization "StrikeOut Cancer" and to a former Aquinas teacher, Julieana Hendricks, who is battling Stage 4 breast cancer right now.

Trophy Presentation

STATS:

First Half:  Saints:  Shots: 11 (5) Corners: 3 (Kimball, Klanke, Linder)

11:53 Pigott (Moss finds via chip Klanke who busts to the end line and t's it back past the K. Heying feint) GWG; GWA

Thunder: Shots 2 (0) Corners: 0

Second Half:  Shots: 16 (11) Corners: 4 (Itsy, Woltering, K. Heying, Klanke)

33:40 Klanke (Linder blocks an SJA pass into Marge who swings it to Jackson who finds Hallie through)

26:23 Janky (Mallory's goes short throw to Moss who lays it back for the lefty cross for the head down and in)

We will conclude the week tomorrow with our bi-annual match up with Divine Savior out of Milwaukee. They will enter STA as our second Top 50 Top Drawer Match-up!

EKL at BV Southwest

Game 5: 4 April at Southwest at 4:30 (1-0 with lightning ending match with 32:56 left)

Just another weird early spring match arrived as lightning brought an abrupt end to this one.  The first half ended 0-0 as we failed to follow two shots that came off the keeper and just sat for a few moments. 

More importantly though after a few defenders falling (a theme of the first half), Briley hit a nice hard ground shot to the front post. Out of nowhere sprang Alex Moss at the last second to clear the ball away, saving a goal.  Check it out! BWhite probably would have named her the BWhite Player of the Match on that play alone, but she was solid in the back throughout the half during tough conditions. She also made several runs into the front third of the field from right back.

We knew lightning was within 20 miles when we started the second half.  We did seem to play more with a sense of urgency.  When Marge found Hallie who just hit a beautiful shot from 25 to beat the keeper, we seemed as if we had just grabbed the game-winner. Sure enough, the game was called a few minutes later.

Just from checking out the stats, all of us can probably see that we were a quart low on energy tonight. We generated all of 5 shots in the first half with a couple of corners. Not enough for as much talent as we run out there.

Southwest does a nice job of getting behind the ball, and their talent does limit a lot of what teams try to do.  Their skill, however, does not explain most of what took place out their first half on our side of the ball.

STATS:

First Half:

Saints: Shots: 5 (3) Corners: 2 (KHeying, Kimball)

T-Wolves: Shots 2 (1) Corners: 0

Second Half:

Saints: Shots: 2 (1) Corners: 0

38:16 Klanke (Linder picks off the in-bounds pass before pushing it to Marge who turns to go square to Hallie) GWG, Klanke's 3rd

T-Wolves

Shots: 0 (0) Corners: 0

Mo-Kan 3rd Place Match

Game 4: 1 April vs. St. James in 3rd Place Match (4-1)

This preview of Friday's PinkOut exploded into the Hallie Klanke show, and what a show it was. With the match tied, 10 or so minutes to go, Hallie put on a scoring party I can't recall seeing before in my coaching career as she put away 3 goals in like 3 minutes.  And those are some very nice looking goals.

BWhite did name her the BWhite Player of the Match but he had a huge shoutout for Alex Moss and Katelyn Heying who also turned in very good performances; in fact, Alex joined Hallie and Moira Kelley on the All-Tournament Team, a distinction that suggests very good performances in all 3 of the tournament games. 

At the half, we were up 1-0, and, for the most part, we had controlled the match. But, we only had one goal.

St. James got even midway through the second half as we helped keep the ball alive and in play for them, as they finished it.

Even before that tying goal, St. James almost scored on a corner kick of ours in which we made every attempt to violate our corner kick agreements as much as we could. It took just a remarkable play by Moira Kelley to save a goal. (See it)  The more you watch Moira play, the more you see how dynamic of a player she really is.

St. James battles, does a nice job of possessing and offers up a solid, solid lineup.  PinkOut will be a battle this year.

STATS:

Saints:  Shots: 8 (4) Corners: 5 (Pigott, K. Heying, M. Heying, Klanke, Linder)

11:28 K. Heying (Mallory wins the 50/50 ball pushing it through for a KHeying acceleration and a quick, perfectly placed shot.)

St. James  Shots: 1 (0) Corners: 1

Second Half:

Saints: Shots: 11 (4) Corners: 3 (Woltering, Klanke, K. Heying)

9:46 Klanke (Romme pushes it forward to Hallie who turns thrice from 33 yards out to bury it.)

8:12 Klanke (Jackson chips the ball)

6:49 Klanke (takes the pass from Mallory and blows by 4 defenders)

St. James:  Shots: 3 (2) Corners: 1

18:12 Thornhill (long deadball results in saves into various St. James players)

2017 Bob Durig Mo-Kan All-Tournament Team

	Player	Year	School
	Dehaemers, Catherine	11	Sion
	Duker, Karissa	12	St. James
	Farkas, Lily	10	St. Teresa’s
Goalie	Fennewald, Afton	11	Sion
	Fothergill, Keelie	12	LS North
Tara Peck MVP	Frerking, Meghan	11	Sion
	Grimaldi, Gabby	10	Sion
	Kelley, Moira	9	Saint Thomas Aquinas
	Klanke, Hallie	10	Saint Thomas Aquinas
	Linux, Amber	10	Olathe South
	Mitchell, Alexis	12	LS North
	Moss, Alex	11	Saint Thomas Aquinas
	Priest, Haley	12	BVNW
	Rock, Kaylie	10	LS North
	Trouve, Zoe	12	Sion
	Trujillo, Macy	12	St. Teresa’s
	Turner, Shea	10	Liberty
	Weist, Michaela	11	St. James