South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Gallery: Lindbergh girls soccer team heads to state quarterfinals after a victory

Gallery%3A+Lindbergh+girls+soccer+team+heads+to+state+quarterfinals+after+a+victory

The Lindbergh Flyers celebrate after junior Kaitlyn Akers (23) scores a goal in their victory last week in the state semifinals. Photo by Jessica Belle Kramer.

By Jessica Belle Kramer

For the Call

Fresh from winning the district championship, the Lindbergh girls soccer team defeated Troy Buchanan 5-0 in the state semifinals last week.

Only nine minutes into the May 22 semifinal game, the crowd jumped out of their seats as senior Lauren Shrum scored the first goal of the night. About three minutes later, senior Kate Daus scored the next goal. The girls played well, kept the ball out of their goal and on Troy Buchanan’s side of the field during the first half.

They entered halftime leading 2-0.

During the second half, not much changed in the team’s strategy. They kept the ball rolling, going back and forth with Troy but not letting their opponents make it in the net. It was enough to end the game with a decisive final score of 5-0. Senior Jordan Bilyeu scored the first goal of the second half, followed by two more goals scored by juniors Julie Baudendistel and Kaitlyn Akers.

The team prepares for postseason games the same way they did for games in the regular season, and Coach Mark Giesing credits their success to tradition.

“We haven’t done anything extraordinary in the postseason,” he said. “We focus on small-sided games, and we play a lot of small-sided possession, because we like to knock the ball around. We feel that’s been our key. We haven’t done anything different to prepare for these last couple games.”

He added, “We’re at our most dangerous when we can play side-to-side well, and I felt like tonight we really did that well.”

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