Agers, who netted three hat tricks (three goals in one game) in her three-year career with the Lancers, recently was named to the all-Jefferson County Activities Association first team – for the third time. She didn’t get a chance to be a four-timer because COVID-19 canceled the 2020 season.
The three-sport star athlete plans to attend the Missouri University of Science and Technology at Rolla and play basketball for the Miners. Agers capped her career in soccer by leading St. Pius (10-12-1 overall, 3-3 in league play) in goals for the third straight season with 14. In three seasons, Agers notched 35 goals, seven assists and 77 points.
Windsor’s Jordan Kolinski and Perryville’s Leah Buerck, both 2021 graduates, also were JCAA first-teamers for three of their four years. Buerck, the conference player of the year in 2019, was selected again for that honor by the league coaches after scoring 45 goals this spring.
St. Vincent (13-9) swept its conference schedule with a record of 6-0 and the two Perryville schools have traded winning the JCAA since 2016. But Windsor (16-9, 4-2) beat the Indians 1-0 in the Class 3 sectionals before bowing out to Notre Dame St. Louis in overtime in the quarterfinals. Windsor has won the last two District 2 championships. Perryville (17-5-2, 5-1) made it to the Class 2 quarterfinals last month before falling 2-0 to eventual state champion Ursuline Academy.
Here’s a look at the rest of the JCAA first-team soccer players.
Festus junior Emily Holt led the Tigers with 13 goals and five assists for 31 points, playing forward the entire season. Holt was instrumental in the Tigers’ four wins this spring, including a goal and an assist in a 3-0 victory over De Soto.
“She worked the entire game regardless of how we fared as a team, essentially creating goals from steals and hard work against top opponents such as Windsor and St. Vincent,” first-year Festus head coach Caleb Zustiak said. “She developed all season as a player and team captain and I believe will have an even better season next year.”
It’s always easy to wonder what could have been after a tough loss. That’s what St. Pius head coach Aaron Portell did after his squad lost 2-0 to another bunch of Lancers from Lutheran South in the Class 1 District 1 championship last month. Lutheran South went on to finish third in the state.
“It was frustrating. That was a tough loss,” Portell said. “Just watching that game after, we were the better team, but they had a good keeper and we just couldn’t get the ball in the net. I think both teams went into that game knowing whoever won would mostly likely get to the semifinals.
“We’ve got some talented freshmen coming in,” Portell added. “You never know what the path to the state championship is going to look like with (classes and districts) changing every year.”
Agers will be very difficult to replace. She played with equal skill up top or on the back line and moved around to suit the team’s biggest needs.
“Her athleticism and competitiveness, we’re going to miss that,” Portell said. “She was defensive back the last two years because we had to strengthen that area. She’s kind of played multiple roles and has been a very important player the last three seasons. Her drive to have success, you don’t see that too often. Even her freshman year she had leadership and the kids knew if we needed something, we will go through A.J. to get it.”
Sophomore Riley Cappozzo played center midfield for the Lancers alongside junior teammate Colleen Flanagan, who made the all-JCAA second team. Cappozzo was second on St. Pius with nine goals and led the Lancers with 13 assists for 31 points. She had two of her best games offensively against conference teams, scoring a hat trick against De Soto and dishing out four assists against Festus.
“Riley was a distributor more than a shooter,” Portell said. “You underestimate what she can do because of her small stature, but she’s explosive and truly a gifted player and is as tough as they come. She broke her nose in the middle of the season, put a mask on and didn’t miss a game.”
Hillsboro (3-18) had a tough season in head coach Sam Nansel’s first year, but two of those victories came against conference teams and two Hawks returning in 2022 were named to the first team.
Junior Colleen Theiss (eight goals, two assists) started the season playing center attacking midfielder or striker but finished at center back. Like St. Pius with Agers, the Hawks needed one of their best players to concentrate more on defense.
“Defensively we weren’t holding up, and we tried a lot of things with (Theiss) back there and it was the best we looked all season,” Nansel said. “Colleen is our best field player. I had to use her where it seemed like we were lacking.”
In selecting the first-team goalkeeper, the conference coaches – who can’t vote for their own players – looked past the raw numbers to choose Hillsboro sophomore Baylei Clubb. She’s one of the few Hawks who play club ball in the offseason and Nansel said the other coaches were enamored by her ability to make hard saves.
“She didn’t have flashy wins and shutouts and goals-against numbers, but a lot of the other coaches knew it wasn’t due to (lack of) skill, it was due to she didn’t have much help defensively all season,” Nansel said. “She kept us in countless games. I had numerous refs and coaches tell me she was the best keeper they had seen all season.”
Jordan Kolinski’s goal output for Windsor rose each season from 10 as a freshman to a team-high 17 this season. Her career totals are 43 goals, 28 assists and 114 points. She played wing midfielder this season and combined with her sophomore sister, Taylor, an honorable mention pick, to generate plenty of offense for the Owls.
“As far as her career is concerned, she scored some big goals for us,” Windsor head coach Mike Hutchison said. “She had some hip problems and moved to forward so she didn’t have to run down the field so much. She finally got comfortable with her back to the goal and was great in combination with Taylor. She’s going to be hard to replace for sure.”
When your job is to shut down the opposing team’s top scorer, you don’t get a lot of scoring chances yourself. That was defender Elizabeth Spurgeon’s task for Windsor. Spurgeon, a 2021 graduate, was a critical component of an Owl defense that recorded six straight shutouts before the quarterfinal loss to Notre Dame.
Concentrating on defense “helped her move her feet quickly,” Hutchison said. “We didn’t ask a lot of her offensively, but she was our No. 1 defender, which meant she went up against the other team’s goal-scoring forward. We can’t say enough for what she did. That’s a thankless job. She never quit or gave in and she really learned how to minimize things. If she was going to get beat, it was forcing (the opponent) into (offensive) help and was a huge part of our ability to shut teams down.”
After an 0-3 start, things looked bleak for the Owls, but Hutchison said players changed positions without complaint and that led to their postseason run.
“A big reason we were successful was their help to make the jigsaw puzzle fit together,” he said. “We moved some pieces around and when we had things set, both Gillicks (senior Maddy and sophomore Mallory) got hurt and we had to do more moving. That gave us depth on all the areas across the field. We didn’t have to rely on one group of players and we really found our identity as the season went on. We were able to play a two-way game out of that. I really appreciate the girls being selfless.”