Now St. Anne’s-Belfield’s girls soccer squad gets a shot at redemption.
“Be careful for what you wish for because you just may get it,” said STAB coach Mark O’Donnell.
After falling to St. Catherine’s in the LIS final last week, the Saints will get another shot at the Richmond school Friday evening, this time in the VISAA Division I semifinals. STAB got there with a 5-1 victory over Trinity Episcopal Wednesday in the state quarterfinals.
The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals by Haley Kent and Kylie Hegemier against Trinity, but TES refused to go away and cut the lead to 2-1.
“Two to nothing is one of the hardest leads to defend because there’s a little bit of comfort,” O’Donnell said. “They’re a very senior dominated team, so we thought we we were going to have to absorb something and I knew we’d be okay if we could absorb. We talked about that at halftime — we’re just going to absorb a little bit.”
The Saints put the pedal down after that and didn’t let up, pushing the lead to the final score of 5-1 with goals from TaylorAnne Barry, Hegemier again on a Kent assist and Kent once more on a Barry assist.
Hegemier finished with two goals and an assist as did Kent. Madi Mazola notched the assist on Hegemier’s first goal.
STAB faces St. Catherine’s at 6 p.m. Friday in the semifinal at Ukrops Park in Richmond.
“St. Catherine’s is an incredibly talented team and if you haven’t played them and you don’t know their style, you’re at a disadvantage,” O’Donnell said. “The fact that we’ve played them and each time we’ve played them tougher gives us confidence. This was our most complete game of the season so I think we’re ready.”
