By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

Most people immediately look at the win-loss column when measuring a team’s success to see just how dominating it was against opponents.

For the Mehlville Senior High School girls’ soccer team, measuring success by the team’s wins and losses really doesn’t give credit as to how much progress the Panthers have made this season.

“The girls showed a lot of heart and a lot of ‘stick-to-it-ness,'” Head Coach Chris Werstein told the Call.

“Our record doesn’t show our overall commitment and progress as a team. As a coach, I can’t ask for anything more than that,” the coach added.

The Panthers (0-11, 0-4 Suburban West) clearly struggled this season from the beginning to the end.

Yet an interesting fact is that of Mehlville’s 11 losses, four were by two goals or less.

Mehlville finished the 2003 regular season last Thursday evening with a 1-0 loss on the road at Lindbergh High School.

Freshman goalkeeper Melissa Giorgi once again was strong in the net for the Panthers as she recorded 10 saves in the losing effort.

“The girls have really grown this year,” Werstein said.

“We built a lot of character in this team and that’s the truth. We’ve certainly had to pay our dues this season.” Werstein added.

The Panthers now can clean the slate as they compete in the District 3 Tournament, which will be played at Webster Groves High School.

Mehlville is slated to open the tournament against Notre Dame on Monday — after the Call went to press.

“I’m not too familiar with them since we haven’t played them in a few years,” Werstein said. “We’ve had some really donnybrooks with them in the past and I’m sure that they’re going to be a formidable foe.”

The championship game of the district tournament is scheduled to be played at 7 p.m. today — May 22 — at Webster Groves.