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Fort Zumwalt West Girls Soccer Defeats IWA 1-0, Wins School’s First Ever Title
BY JIM WIENERS
Soccer is one sport where one goal can make a difference and last weekend at the Anheuser-Busch Center (formerly St Louis Soccer Park), Fenton, one goal was the difference in the two Class Two Girls games played by Incarnate Word Academy.
Last Friday, in a rain-delayed Semifinal Game, Incarnate Word, on a first half goal by junior Blake Miller, defeated Metro Women’s Athletic Association White Division rival St. Joseph’s Academy 1-0. Last Saturday in the Championship game Fort Zumwalt West senior Alyssa Mautz scored early in the second half, only the ninth goal allowed by IWA in 2007, and the goal held up as Zumwalt West defeated IWA 1-0. The game was delayed over an hour because of the Class One Championship game went to penalty kicks won 4-3 by St. Dominic over Kansas City Notre Dame de Sion, by a 1-0 final score.
Fort Zumwalt West’s state title was their first ever in any sport and the third won by Fort Zumwalt School District high schools (the other two was won by Fort Zumwalt South the last two years in Class Four Boys Cross Country). Fort Zumwalt West and St. Dominic completed a Girls Soccer Sweep by O’Fallon, Mo., based high schools. Fort Zumwalt West’s route to the state title included wins over conference champions Pattonville (Suburban North) in the Sectionals, Lafayette (Suburban West), in the Quarterfinals and Lee’s Summit North (Kansas City Suburban [Big 7]) in the semifinals.
Incarnate Word, with only five seniors including three starters finished with a 24-3-1 record and was 3-1-1 in the MWAA White Division, second only to Nerinx Hall. IWA — who has 15 state trophies, seven titles and five runner ups — has outscored opponents, 93-9. Fort Zumwalt West, with nine seniors on the team coming back from losing last year’s title game to Kansas City St. Teresa’s, finished 20-7-2, 4-1-1 in the Gateway Athletic Conference South Division-second to Francis Howell High.
The difference between the 1-0 win over St. Joe and the 1-0 loss to Zumwalt West for IWA was the way the Red Knights played. According to head coach Kristy Bush IWA likes to play attacking soccer but said “we didn’t play our game” last Saturday the same way the Red Knights did against St. Joe. “We played Fort Zumwalt West’s game in the middle of the field,” Bush said.
IWA defeated St. Joe 2-1 on May 8 at home in a MWAA White Division Game. IWA defeated Zumwalt West 2-0 on May 31 at the AB Center in the Red Knight Invitational Championship game celebrating IWAs 75 years as a school.
Last Friday’s game was played on a rain soaked main field, a grass field. Last Saturday’s game was on Field 2, which has Field Turf, to avoid any further damage to the main field.
Incarnate Word, on two Blake goals, edged Rockwood Summit, 2-1, in the May 26 Quarterfinal game at the AB Center. Miller, junior Drea Barklage and sophomore Kristen Dailey, each scored a goal in a 3-0 Sectional Shutout May 22 over Jackson, Mo., at the AB Center.
Incarnate Word played only 80 minutes in the two District Two games played due to the 10-goal rule halting the game at halftime or during the second half. IWA led 10-0 over Normandy at halftime May 17 and 15-0 over Gateway Tech at halftime May 18. IWA has won 23 consecutive district championships.
