Goals were scored in bunches by Jefferson County Activities Association soccer players this spring.
A pair of Windsor freshmen, Bailey Peters and Jordan Kolinski, notched 15 and 10 goals, respectively. Kolinski’s performance landed her on the all-conference postseason first team, and Peters was named to the second team.
They were big factors in helping the Owls’ offensive output jumping from 43 goals in 2017 to 61 this spring.
Hillsboro scored 49 goals in 2017 and that number ballooned to 80 this year after junior Abby Schacht established a team record with 31 tallies.
In a 4-1 Class 3 sectional win against Cape Girardeau Central, Schacht scored the first three goals of the game in its first 20 minutes. The Hawks advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in team history, where they were shut out 6-0 by eventual state champion Rockwood Summit.
Hillsboro senior Jillian Schlote (second team) scored 51 goals her first two seasons and after she was sidelined with a knee injury as a junior, she finished with 15 goals and a team-high 20 assists. Junior Breanna Sebaugh (honorable mention selection) was the third Hillsboro player in 2018 to score 10 or more goals. Sebaugh had 13 goals and 13 assists.
The conference’s player of the year, St. Vincent senior Corin Carroll, led the league in scoring with 31 goals and 24 assists for 86 points. Carroll scored the Indians’ first two goals in their 5-1 victory over Lone Jack in the Class 1 semifinals. St. Vincent won its second straight state title on May 31 with a 2-0 win over Principia.
St. Pius X freshman A.J. Agers cracked the first team after registering a team-high nine goals, and that was after starting the season playing in the backfield because the Lancers were injury-riddled at the time.
The following is a breakdown of the JCAA first team players from the county:
When Schlote was lost for the season in 2017, Schacht took on the goal-scoring role and flourished. “She was in on almost every dead ball we had,” said Chris Schacht, Hillsboro’s head coach and Abby’s father. “What’s overlooked is she learned how to play the position better. She can help control the pace of the game. She’s knowledgeable when to slow things down or go quickly in transition. That’s why I have had her at center midfield. She can set the pace of a game.
Abby struggled with being closely marked and the coach said she had to learn how to play with that type of attention.
“She might get double-teamed more because we won’t have Jillian (next season) to take that pressure off of her,” he said. “From year to year a lot of these girls’ roles change. A girl we don’t know about might emerge to pick up that slack, scoringwise. I prefer a balanced attack.”
While Schacht was keeping opposing goalkeepers on their toes at one end of the field. Hillsboro junior Raechel Hamilton made the first team for her play at center back. After sustaining a knee injury her freshman year, Hamilton never quite got back to full strength as a sophomore. That all changed this spring.
“She’s a player who really stands out because she’s fast, strong and physical,” Chris Schacht said. “She makes a lot of runs out of the back and puts the numbers in our favor. She’s good with the ball at her feet and in the air. If we’re down late in the game, I could move her up as an added force.”
Looking around the conference, Coach Schacht said next spring should be as exciting and competitive as 2018 was.
Despite all of their success offensively this year, the Hawks were shut out by Perryville, St. Vincent and St. Pius X.
“Perryville’s not graduating anybody,” he said. “St. Vincent is losing a lot but they seem to reload every year. Windsor will be improved. Everybody’s going to be better. We have a tough schedule within our conference and we go to the Parkway Showcase for good games. Everything you do is preparing for the postseason.”
The Hawks were among the top eight teams in Class 3, but Schacht said his team wasn’t prepared for Summit’s depth.
“When they rolled girls in and out, their talent didn’t drop off,” Schacht said. “They are soccer savvy and have high soccer IQs at every position. We have several girls who play club ball. (Schlote) and (Allyson Bridges) were the first two club players at Hillsboro. You don’t want them to burn out playing all year, but gaining that skill when you’re younger is hard to pick up when you get older.”
Windsor junior Keri Voegtle had a busy spring running relays for the school’s track and field team and chasing down the best forwards on the soccer field. Head coach Mike Hutchison said Voegtle could play anywhere on the field. She contributed to the offense with a pair of goals and three assists.
“We asked her to shut down our opponents’ best forward and that allowed us to be more aggressive offensively by playing with three forwards,” Hutchison said. “It’s a thankless task because you’re going up against girls with a lot of tools in their arsenal. Mentally and physically she did a great job with it.”
Kolinski had a goal and two assists in the Owls’ 6-0 district win over De Soto and the midfielder developed a great understanding how to be a two-way player.
“She was really great defensively and read the game well and joined the offense at the right moments,” Hutchison said. “She was a complete player for a freshman. She uses both feet well, passing and shooting. Her 10 goals from the wing midfield were a huge contribution.”
Schacht beat the Owls in the district final with a goal in the final two minutes of the game. Hutchison said that loss will be fuel for the team’s offseason preparations.
Agers was the Lancers’ leading hitter and made the all-conference first team during softball season. She led St. Pius in assists and steals during basketball season, and wrapped up her freshman year as the soccer team’s leading scorer.
What will Agers do for her sophomore year?
“We’d like to keep her as our main goal scorer but we have to fill the other positions as well,” St. Pius head coach Aaron Portell said. “We have to be more solid on defense to give her more freedom on top.”
Portell lauded Agers’ ability in the backfield as the team’s top defenders slowly came back from injuries.
“She did an excellent job but we had to get her up top and find ways to score,” said Portell after the Lancers’ goals dropped from 37 in 2017 to 19 this year. “She’s got a knack for seeing space and giving people the ball at the right moment. A lot of times it came down to determination.”
Replacing an all-state goalkeeper like Rebecca Hovatter wasn’t going to be easy, but at times St. Pius junior Jordyn Spreck made it look that way. This year’s first-team keeper allowed 37 goals in 1,360 minutes. The Lancers lost seven of their last eight games and at times Spreck was caught in a shooting gallery.
“We lost a lot of games 1-0 and 2-0 and she kept us in those games,” Portell said. “The goals that were scored on her were breakdowns by her teammates. She didn’t give up an easy goal all year. In my mind, (Spreck) is one of best goalkeepers I’ve seen. She’s not afraid to come out and knows how to cut down angles.”
While Hillsboro almost doubled the amount of goals it scored, Festus fell from 47 goals to 25 this year.
Junior Claire Werner followed up a 12-goal campaign in 2017 and tied with teammate Jenna Oetting to lead the Tigers with nine goals this year. Oetting and her sister, Jordan Oetting, a 2017 graduate, both notched 15 goals last year. Jenna was selected to the second team this spring, while Claire was voted onto the first team.