South soccer sunk by Aquinas

The sideline told the story Tuesday as the last 20 minutes approached during the semifinals of the Mo-Kan Classic at St. Thomas Aquinas.

Olathe South's girls were standing, a few of the wrapped in blankets to guard against spring's early chill, while the players for Aquinas sat on the bench, many of them also bundled in blankets.

The Falcons had been the aggressors most of the second half in a scoreless game and were unlucky not to have a lead on the host Saints. South seemed close to breaking through with every possession, though, so its bench was on edge awaiting a score.

But soccer can be a fickle game in that way.

Despite authoring the most dangerous scoring chances for much of the night, when the final horn sound South found itself on the short end of a 1-0 final thanks to Aquinas senior Kristin Matteuzzi's goal in the final four minutes.

"That happens sometimes," Falcons coach Will Stoskopf said. "We've played two games now and only have one goal. We're creating opportunities, but we're just not finishing. That's something we need to focus on and maybe we need concentrate a little more."

Aquinas played on South's half of the field much of the first half, but weren't necessarily the more dangerous team.

The best scoring chances in the first half belonged to the Falcons.

During the 30th minute, junior Kelsie Hanson tipped a ball over to senior Alyssa Rhodes, who switched the ball to a wide open Savannah Lamar on the left side. All alone, Lamar, a junior who earlier was stonewalled on a breakaway, chipped the ball just wide of the Saints' net.

Lamar had two more golden chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but again Aquinas goalkeeper Veronica Holton stood tall in goal.

She smothered a try from inside the penalty box by Lamar in the 46th minute and then drifting right and covered a dangerous left-footed bender to the near post by Lamar from the left side.

Moments later, sophomore Kaitlynn Pelger powered through three defenders after forcing a Saints turnover near midfield.

She chugged past Aquinas defender Laura Treacy and closed on Holton, beating the Saints keeper to the free ball but whistled a shot wide left by mere feet from 20 yards out.

"It's so cold and really good teams put a lot of pressure on you," Lamar said. "Aquinas is a really good team, and they don't give you much to make a decision. I just tried to do everything I could do."

The Falcons, 1-1, couldn't will a ball into the net, though.

Aquinas, meanwhile, picked up its pace in the final 10 minutes, testing Buttron on a series of hard shots from just outside the penalty box and on corner kicks.

Buttron — who again sparkled in net, stonewalling Matteuzzi in the 23rd minute and gobbling up an Allison Gasparovich rocket in the 58th — rose the challenge time and time again.

She couldn't corral a bounding ball off a run up the left side, only tipping it toward the center of the goal where Matteuzzi was waiting to sock home the game-winner.

"It's always a rivalry with Aquinas," Rhodes said. "It's kind of like how we feel about playing an Olathe team because they are always competitive. It's stinks going down tonight, but losing 1-0 to a nationally ranked team isn't bad."

Stoskopf agreed.

"It was a good effort," he said. "You'd have to use a microscope to find areas where we were playing poorly, so I'm happy with what we've done. We battled the whole way. We had the disadvantage of playing back-to-back nights, but it didn't really show. The girls played hard the whole time."

Two games into the season, Stoskopf is "real happy with how (the Falcons) look right now," he said.

St. Teresa's (Mo.) outlasted Liberty (Mo.) in the first semifinal 2-1.

The Stars will face Aquinas at 3 p.m. Saturday for the championship, while the Bluejays draw South at 1 p.m. Saturday in the third-place match.

"It's important to us to win that one," Lamar said. "It'll keep our confidence up. It'd feel pretty nice."

Lee's Summit (Mo.) North knocked off Notre Dame de Sion (Mo.) 2-0 and will face Blue Valley Northwest for fifth place at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Olathe North and Sion play at 9 a.m. Saturday for seventh place.

Mo-Kan Classic at St. Thomas Aquinas Semifinals OLATHE SOUTH , AQUINAS St. Thomas Aquinas (Kristen Matteuzzi; shutout by Veronica Holton). Records: South 1-1, Aquinas 2-0.

Contact Tod Palmer todpalmer@theolathenews.com.