Mehlville girls soccer team paying dues

By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

Progress is not always measured in terms of wins and losses.

That’s clearly what Chris Werstein, head coach of the Mehlville Senior High School girls’ soccer team, has tried to get across to his players.

“We’ve got a really young team,” Wer-stein told the Call. “Right now, it’s all about paying our dues. In the Army, they call it OJT, which stands for On Job Training.

“The girls are very committed to becoming a team and a real team is highly competitive. We’re working towards that goal,” the coach added.

The Panthers traveled to Pacific on Monday of last week and founded themselves behind 1-0 after the first half of action.

“I thought that Pacific would be better than DuBourg,” Werstein said. “We don’t understand the importance of having strong starts and strong finishes. To give up a goal in the first five minutes is just not acceptable.”

The Panthers did receive a goal from junior midfielder Kaitlyn Deutsch during the second half with sophomore midfielder Allison Schaughnessey receiving the assist. Deutsch’s goal wasn’t enough to hold the tie as Pacific hammered out two more goals in a 3-1 win.

Later in the week, Mehlville plays host to Collinsville and once again the Panthers found themselves down 1-0 after the first half of play. Collinsville drained four more goals in the second half as Mehlville answered with a goal by Deutsch, which was her second of the week in the 5-1 loss.

Junior forward Karen Hines made the assist on Deutsch’s second goal.

“We buckled in the second half,” Wer-stein said. “We did play them tough in the first half. We just have to be careful about digging ourself in a hole.”

The Panthers return to action this week as they play host to Marquette in their second Suburban West Conference match of the season. The Mustangs were in the cellar of the conference standings last season, but Werstein knows that Marquette is a much-improved team this year.

“Marquette is a much-improved team,” Werstein said. “Last year we were just able to squeeze by them. If we can make as much progress this week as we did last week, I’ll be satisfied.”