St. Pius X reaches Missouri Class 1 girls soccer semifinals

These girls weren’t about to let the boys have all the limelight.

Back in the fall, when the St. Pius X boys advanced to the Missouri state soccer semifinals, the girls soccer team went along to cheer them on. On that trip, the girls came to a conclusion: We’ve got to do this, too.

Goal accomplished.

The St. Pius X girls matched the boys Thursday night against Barstow, capping a defense-heavy game with a 2-1 win in a Class 1 quarterfinal in Excelsior Springs.

“This was our toughest competition of the season,” said Pius goalkeeper Danielle Conforti. “But since the fall, our motto has been anything the boys can do, we can do better. We just played great as a team today.”

Pius, 16-8-1, advanced to the Class 1 state semifinals Thursday.

Pius took the game’s first lead when Brooke Torres broke free and found the back of the Barstow net with 10 minutes, 27 seconds to play in the first half.

Barstow looked to be in trouble as time continued to tick in the second half. But a penalty kick from Jewel Kawamoto crept through the left side of the goal and tied the game at 1-1 with 13 minutes to play.

The game appeared headed for overtime before Barstow, in a defensive effort, made an own-goal with 56 seconds on the clock.

Conforti made another game-saving stop with 19 seconds left by jumping into a crowd and grabbing the ball in the air 2 feet from her own goal, securing the Pius victory.

After seeing the boys lose in the semifinals, the girls are determined to advance farther into the bracket.

“We just want to keep going,” Conforti said.

submitted by MIKE JEFFRIES - 2009-05-28 23:02:02

Comments - leave comment

• onehundredandeighty says:

  The printed newspaper today said the Knights won their soccer match. When did Saint Pius change their name from the Warriors to the Knights?

  Posted 25 weeks ago | Delete