Eureka broke through Saturday to the Missouri State High School Activities Association girls soccer state semifinals.
The Wildcats defeated Francis Howell Central 3-1 at home to win its quarterfinal match. Eureka will face St. Joseph's, a 2-0 winner over Zumwalt West in another quarterfinals match, in the semis at noon June 2 at Swope Park in Kansas City.
The quarterfinal win was a long time in the making for the Wildcats, who were eliminated in the same round last year by St. Joseph’s and bowed out in the sectionals with a loss to the Angels.
“Being on varsity for four years, this is the farthest we have made it,” senior midfielder Kelsey Lanham said. “It is unreal. Our coach is like, we have done this three years now, we are not going another year and not advancing to the semis. I’m very happy we have made it this far, and I’m not planning on stopping.”
Eureka had to wait a little longer than expected to advance. With the Wildcats )17-6) leading the Spartans (14-7-2) 2-1 with 8:22 to play, lightening cause a 30-minute delay.
“We watched a lot of the radar and went to my classroom,” Eureka coach Gary Schneider said of how the team handled the delay. “Once we heard it was going to be getting close (to resuming play), we moved the desks out of the way and the girls started knocking the ball around inside the classroom. I’m sure we will get in trouble for it, but it is what it is.”
Loosing up inside paid off, as freshman Jillian Oligschlaeger scored off a crossing pass from a free kick with 6:26 to play for a two-goal lead.
Eureka junior Jordan Thompson opened the scoring in the game’s 21st minute, netting a goal of a corner kick by junior Blythe Beldner.
Eureka freshman Audrey Brown pushed the lead to 2-0 when she gathered a ball that skipped over Howell Central’s goalie and scored into an empty net in the 50th minute.
Spartans sophomore Molly Krispin cut the Wildcats’ lead to 2-1 in the 61st minute, scoring off a centering pass by junior Bailey Beeler.
But the Wildcats were able to hold off the Spartans the rest of the way and moved onto Kansas City thanks to a pair of goals from a pair of freshman.
“It was really fun that we had two freshmen that scored,” Brown said. “Jillian scoring was like the cherry on top, because it lifted the stress off the game.”
For more on Eureka’s quarterfinals victory, read Thursday’s Leader.