A trip to last weekend to Springfield for the Kickapoo Invitational turned out to be more than the Oakville Senior High School girls’ soccer team had expected.
The Tigers (6-3, 3-0 Suburban West) began the tourney Friday with a 4-0 win over Archbishop O’Hara High School of Kansas City. While battling a combination of wind, rain, snow and sleet throughout the game, Jasmina Suljic got the Tigers on the scoreboard about 30 minutes into the game with Amanda Teschner recording the assist.
“It was one of those games where we were playing well enough to score, but we couldn’t because of the elements,” Oakville head coach Dave Robben said. “Her goals came at a key time for us.”
Suljic scored the Tigers’ next two goals with Teschner assisting on both goals.
“Amanda had a dynamic tournament,” Robben said. “She’s essentially a defensive player that has the ability to move forward. Her sense of when to play the ball behind the defense led to our first two goals.”
Oakville’s fourth and final goal came from Paige Colletta in the second half with Teschner racking up her fourth assist.
“Paige has been pretty consistent in her play this season,” Robben said. “She’s had some big goals for us this season including the game winner against Notre Dame.”
But Oakville dropped the second game of the tournament 8-0 to St. Teresa’s Academy of Kansas City, which won the Class 2 state championship in 2005 and 2006.
“It was a real eye-opener,” Robben said about the loss. “I personally was not ready for their style of play.
“There was a lot of punching, holding and obscenity-laced trash-talking that we just don’t see on this side of the state.”
The Tigers held tight in the first half as St. Teresa’s scored two goals.
“We gave them a good first half,” Robben said. “But we then gave up like four goals in a span of eight minutes in the second half.”
But the most alarming point of the game came when a St. Teresa’s player blatantly punched Oakville’s Andrea Boone in the eye. The brutal blow caused her to temporarily lose vision, which prompted Robben to not only make a plea to game officials, but also to the St. Teresa’s bench.
“We expected to go down for a soccer tournament — not one of those ultimate fighting matches,” Robben said.
The Tigers finished the tourney with a 1-0 loss to Smith-Cotton High School of Sedalia.
“That loss was tougher to take than the St. Teresa’s game,” Robben said. “The wind was such a factor, and it was frustrating that we just couldn’t get a goal.”
The Tigers are back in action at 6 p.m. today — April 17 — when they play host to Fox. Oakville also will play Parkway North at 6 p.m. Friday. Both games will be played at Mehlville Senior High School.