By Joe Lyons, Special to the Post-Dispatch
CHESTERFIELD -- With time running short, St. Joseph's Academy came up with the goal it needed Friday night.
The Angels' Claire Pingel headed in a corner kick from fellow junior Maggie Drozda with 3 minutes and 9 seconds to play in regulation for a 2-1 victory in the title game of the Class 3 District 2 girls soccer tournament at Parkway West.
The goal, the first of the season for Pingel, put the finishing touch on a well-played match that could've gone either way. And it kept the season going for St. Joe's coach Maureen McVey, who has announced that this will be her final season as soccer coach and athletic director for the Angels.
At some point -- but not yet -- she will be stepping down after 36 years of service to St. Joe's. She'll finish with more than 700 career victories and at least five state championships. McVey was the first female inducted into the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame and has also been inducted into the Missouri Hall of Fame, the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the UMSL Soccer Hall of Fame.
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"It means a lot to us for Coach to finish strong,'' said Pingel, whose father, Scott, is the football coach and director of athletics at CBC. "We've struggled at times with our corners this season and I've only been coming forward for corners in the last few weeks. But we've been working on them in practice a lot and tonight all that hard work paid off. Maggie played a strong ball into the box, I got my head on it and we got the goal we needed."
Pingel added: "Getting Coach another district title means everything to us."
And to McVey: "This means the world to me. I've had a wonderful career, and I've loved the time I've spent at St. Joe's. And I couldn't think of a better group to finish with. Win or lose, these girls have made it special."
St. Joe's (15-3-2) will next play in the Class 3 quarterfinals May 31 at Cape Notre Dame (12-6).
The Angels, who were 21-0 last year before losing 3-2 to eventual state champion Cor Jesu in a Class 3 district final, came out strong in Friday's game at Parkway West. Led by top scorers Caroline Chier and Drozda, St. Joe's put Summit under all sorts of pressure early.
And that pressure led to a 1-0 lead when Olivia Kaiser headed in a free kick from Pingel about 10 minutes into the opening half. But that goal also served as a wake-up call for Summit, which lost to Cor Jesu in last year's Class 3 state title game.
Less than a minute after St. Joe's went up, the Falcons pulled even. After making a strong play to draw the defense, Summit senior Lily Trueman played the ball to freshman Rose Richmond, who scored on a blast from the top of the box to even the score at 1-1.
"St. Joe's came at us strong early, but I really liked the way we responded,'' Summit coach Mike Gauvain said. "We tied it up and from there, it was just two strong teams going hard at each other. Each side created some chances. ... And they managed to finish on that last one."
Summit (18-5) finished the opening half strong. Following a corner kick into the box from Julia Eichkorn, the Falcons had several good shots blocked either by goalkeeper Ella Moersch or the Angel backs during a scramble with about 14 minutes to play before the break.
Then, with about 6 minutes left in the half, Summit's Maria Domain played a dangerous free kick into the box. Moersch came up with the initial stop and then quickly recovered to make an even better save on the rebound attempt by Sienna Nicholson.
The second half featured quality chances from both sides. Seconds into the half, the Angels' Chier set up Drozda, but her deflected shot was alertly blocked by Summit keeper Lilian Adelmann, who took over at the half.
Less than 5 minutes into the half, the Angels' Chier made a strong run down the sideline and made a slick cutback move before ripping a shot off the crossbar. Five or so minutes later, Summit had a similar-looking chance as Richmond set up Trueman, but her shot was tipped off the bar by St. Joe's keeper Moersch.
With about 6 minutes to play, Chier, a St. Louis University signee, made a move in the box to get by the last defender, but her shot was handled by Adelmann.
"They played us tough during the season (a 1-0 St. Joe's win at Summit on April 15), so we knew tonight would be a challenge,'' Pingel said. "But we kept pushing and eventually got the goal we needed."
McVey added: "I'm really proud of the way we fought today. We asked the girls to give us everything they had and we needed every bit of it. And kudos to Summit; this was a game that really could've gone either way. They're a great team and they played an outstanding game.
"Both teams played great. Everybody got their money's worth tonight."
Gauvain agreed.
"They're a great team, a real handful, but we feel great about everything we did tonight,'' he said. "I feel for our seniors -- nobody likes to see a season end -- but we had a season we can be proud of and we lost to a good team, a really good team."
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