Mehlville girls fall to Cor Jesu in opener
By STEPHEN GLOVER
For the Call
The Mehlville Senior High School girls’ track had a rough week last week as the Panthers had the unfortunate duty of opening up the 2003 season against Cor Jesu.
“Cor Jesu is probably a top-10 team and has been for as long as I can remember,” Mehlville Head Coach Chris Werstein told the Call. “We really couldn’t match up with their firepower.”
The Panthers (0-2) held Cor Jesu scoreless through the first half of play, but a three-goal outburst in the second half doomed Mehlville to a 3-0 loss. Mehlville freshman goalkeeper Melissa Giorgi recorded an impressive 20 saves and Wer-stein believes that the rookie could have a bright future as a Panther.
“Melissa really had an outstanding game,” Werstein said. “When you have a talented player like Melissa, you just try not to mess it up. We’ve got our fingers crossed that she stays healthy, but she’s only as good as the people who are playing in front of her.”
Another player that Werstein believes is making some key improvements is sophomore midfielder Alana Wuertz, who was moved from the defender position to her current assignment. Werstein hopes that by putting his more talented players up the middle of the field, success will soon find its way to the Panthers.
“You want to play your better players down the middle of the field,” Werstein explained. “Alana’s got good ball skills and has good size. For such a young person, she’s extremely organized.”
The Panthers attempted to recover from their loss to Cor Jesu as they played host to DuBourg on Wednesday of last week.
The Panthers found themselves down 2-0 in the second half until sophomore defender Lisa Krost scored with just two minutes left in the game. Sophomore midfielder Allison Schaughnessey received the assist on the goal.
“I expected us to play with a little more continuity, but we just didn’t see it,” Wer-stein said. “Lisa’s scored a big goal for us. The only problem was that it came with just two minutes left in the game. It’s painfully obvious that we just don’t have the experience out there on the field.”
The Panthers will look to rebound from their two-game losing streak as they play host to Collinsville this evening — April 3. Werstein understands that with such a young team at hand, patience and plain old game experience is what the Panthers will need to be successful.
“We’ve got to respect every opponent because all of our games are of extreme significance,” Werstein said. “Right now, I’m just trying to give theses girls some experience and try to show some patience with them.”
The Collinsville match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
