Hannibal, QND girls soccer squads light up scoreboard, each wins twice in invitational

HANNIBAL, Mo. — The Hannibal girls soccer team fought a war of attrition this weekend, and coach Eric Hill believes they won that war.

After fighting back from down three goals to earn a draw with Parkway Central on Friday night, the Pirates returned to their winning ways on Saturday, defeating Southern Boone 8-0 and St. Charles West 5-1 in the Lady Pirate Invitational at the Veterans Sports Complex.

Quincy Notre Dame also won a pair of games Saturday, beating St. Charles West 6-1 and Perryville 4-1.

“One thing I was looking forward to in this tournament was coming out and playing this competition,” Hill said. “We knew there would be some tougher teams, and I thought we handled ourselves really well.”

And with three games in 24 hours, there were some tired legs, and sophomore defender Addison Friday said the Pirates (10-1-2) gave nearly every ounce of energy they had this weekend.

“We were all tired, but we really pushed ourselves to see who was stronger today,” Friday said.

After about a five-hour break in between games, the Pirates jumped out to a 3-0 lead over St. Charles West in the 14th minute on two goals from junior Abbie Martin and another from junior Ashley Davis, which gave the Pirates 14 consecutive goals over less than four halves of soccer.

The Warriors broke this streak in the 19th minute as junior midfielder Bella Herrera scored on her team’s first shot of the game. 

Seven minutes later, Warriors goalkeeper Sequoia Ross lined up for a penalty kick that could have made it a one-goal game, but her shot sailed over the crossbar.

Hill and the Pirates breathed a sigh of relief.

“They had the momentum for sure at that point,” Hill said. “Her hitting that over was able to calm us down a little bit and allow us to regroup, reorganize and take control of the game.”

With 3:16 left in the first half, Martin completed the hat trick on a left-footed shot from 12 yards out.

Yet Martin saved her best for last.

In the 53rd minute, Martin found herself one-on-one with Ross, who came off of her line to near the edge of the 18-yard box to challenge Martin in open space. Martin chipped the ball over Ross’s head and just under the crossbar for her fourth goal of the game.

Martin said she doesn’t practice that shot much, but she just read the play and did what felt natural.

“I saw the goalie running up and thought the chip would be the best shot,” Martin said. “My instincts just kind of took over.”

Hill said aside from about 20 minutes of the Parkway Central game, he couldn’t have asked for a much better performance out of his team.

“I feel like we’re right where we want to be,” he said.

QND (7-4) opened the day with a whitewashing of St. Charles West as Makayla Patton started the scoring by finishing a through ball from Sage Stratton. Addie Flesch scored off a Lilly Schuette corner kick, and Patton’s second goal came off a Liesel Vincent assist to make it 3-0.

After the Warriors netted a goal, Patton scored on a header to give herself a hat trick, while Bayley Wiesenberger and Stratton scored the final two goals.

Against Perryville, QND senior Lauryn Peters buried a header to jumpstart the scoring. Schuette converted a penalty kick to give the Raiders a 2-0 halftime edge. Flesch and Sierra Thomas both scored in the second half.