Game 6 - Woodruff

PEORIA -- After taking an early 2-0 lead, Pekin was forced to settle for a 2-2 Mid-State 6 Conference tie with host Woodruff in girls' soccer Thursday.Sam Grimes scored on a penalty kick in the right corner after Aimee St. Andre was taken down in the penalty box, then later in the half lofted a shot high into the air and in the goal to make it 2-0."Sam had a terrific game on offense and Jelighesa Hamilton was exceptional at the other end,'' Pekin coach Edgar Sandoval said. "She shut down virtually every run they made; she controlled the midfield and made great decisions out there.''Woodruff scored off a short corner kick to end the first half scoring, then tied the contest with 10 minutes to go despite being outshot 15-10 by the visitors (2-3-1, 2-2-1)."Sometimes it just happens like that,'' Sandoval said. "We passed as well as we have in any game this season.Pekin next plays at Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Going in, I actually was more hopeful of success vs. Woodruff than I was against Central, having beaten them four times in a row.

Sam came in with extra motivation as she got knocked out of a game against the Warriors the year before on a rough play. Twelve mintues in we were awarded a free kick and same knocked it home to give us a 1-0 lead. Then, twelve minutes later she lofted a shot high into the air and while it wasn't hit well, the goalie misplayed to go up 2-0.

Just before the end of the half we suffered a defensive breakdown that would be one of the few negative themes to our season. Woodruff scored to make it 2-1 and tied it up with a goal in the second half.

We needed some scoring punch. Breanna was one game away from medical clearance and was begging me to put her in. But I didn't want to risk her getting hurt Although we got a bunch of shots towards the end, we were unable to get the go ahead goal and settled for a 2-2 tie.

Game 5 - Manual

PEKIN -- Playing at times through heavy rains, Pekin stormed out to an early lead and never looked back in a 7-0 Mid-State 6 Conference girls' soccer victory over Peoria Manual Tuesday at Coal Miners Park. Tory Udry started the scoring just four minutes into the match for Pekin (2-3, 2-2), while Christy Gray and Bridgette Feeney each found the goal in the next two minutes. Later in the half, Ashley Snider and Stephanie Sheffler scored their first goals of the season to give the Dragons a 5-0 halftime lead. Udry scored again four minutes into the second half. Tiffany Tebben closed out the scoring in the 68th minute. The Pekin defense was aggressive and strong, allowing just one shot on goal. "What I enjoyed most about the win was that the girls really made a conscious effort to look for and make the simple pass," Pekin head coach Edgar Sandoval said. "We still have a ways to go with that, but I think they started to get a good feel for working it around, finding the openings and not forcing it.'' Manual was only able to bring 10 players so before the game Pekin volunteered to play 10 on a side. The game was called with a few minutes to go when sirens went off. Pekin visits Woodruff at 4:30 p.m. in another Mid-State 6 Conference match. The Dragons have also added Peoria Christian to their schedule for a 4:30 p.m. May 10 contest at Coal Miners Park and have a potential game at Geneseo in the works for May 1

Before this season, we had never lost to Manual and I was hopeful it wouldn't happen on my watch either. There was reason for optimism up there. Their coach played club soccer for Bradley and was from Naperville where there is a great soccer tradition. But my girls put the fears to rest early and often.

We won 7-0, but there was an unfortunate confrontation between me and their coach after the game. On one play, one of our players had the ball in the center of the field near the top of their penalty box. All week we had been working on taking the ball to the corner then passing it in, so in the midst of what was essentially a breakaway, she dribbled to the corner instead and crossed. The cross bounced off their goalie and went in.

After the game, their coach thought our players were trying to show her team up, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. But these kinds of things happen when you have a team with very little experience. Our player just remembered what we had been practicing, but instead of passing to someone in the corner, she dribbled.

Robert Stoops / Times staff
Pekin's Amee St. Andre gets tripped up by Manual's Ebony Thomas during Tuesday afternoon's at Coal Miners Park.

Game 4 - Richwoods

PEORIA -- A shorthanded Pekin girls soccer team lost to Richwoods 5-0 in Mid-State 6 Conference action Tuesday night. Because of injury, illness and vacation, the Dragons suited up just 13 against the 2003 conference champs. Sophomore forward Elizabeth Sinclair led the Knights with goals in the opening minutes of both halves. Pekin (1-3, 1-2) next visits Manual Tuesday.

Coming of a big win, I was hoping for a solid showing against Richwoods. Like Notre Dame and Central, we had never beaten them before. Not that I was expecting that to change, but I was hoping we could at least build on the progress we had made against Central. But it wasn't to be. Aside from the fact that we were missing several players due to injury and spring break, we were dominated physically.

They are a fundamentally sound, well coached team and we only managed one shot on goal in a 5-0 loss.

Game 3 - Central

PEKIN -- Pekin collected its first soccer triumph of the season by dispatching Peoria Central 3-1 Tuesday in a Mid-State 6 Conference match at Coal Miners Park. Samantha Grimes gave the host Dragons (1-2) a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the game before Aimee St. Andre connected at the 27-minute mark for a 2-0 cushion. After Central managed its lone goal, St. Andre added an insurance tally at 75:00. Pekin outshot Central 13-5, with goalie Jen Adkison recording four saves for the hosts.

Coming into the season, we had never beaten Notre Dame or Richwoods and against Central, we weren't much better having lost 13 games and tying once since 97. But for some reason, I had a good feeling going into this game. And that good feeling was confirmed just two minutes into the game when Sam scored her first goal of the season after a couple of nice moves.

Then, at about 27 minutes into the first half, Ashley Snider got the ball on a square pass from Tory Udry... took it down to the corner and crossed it... finding Aimee in front of the goal. Aimee got a clean look at point blank range and sent it home to make it 2-0.

Central scored early in the second half, but this game was a coming out party for our only freshman, Jaleighsa Hamilton. Playing stopper, she thwarted run after run and distupted everything they were trying to do in the middle of the field.

Aimee scored again with 15 minutes left for a final score of 3-1... our first win of the season... and my first win as a high school head coach.

Game 2 - Washington

Pekin came up just short in a 2-1 non-conference loss to Washington at Coal Miner's Park. Freshman Michelle Rhoades and sophomore Tori Pfordresher scored the Panthers' two goals, he latter early in the second half which turned out to be the winner. Later in the second half, Aimee St. Andre broke through the Washington defense and found Sam Grimes, who knocked in Pekin's first goal of the year. "I can't say enough about the intensity our team played with," Pekin coach Edgar Sandoval said. "They maintained the energy for 80 minutes, and hope we can build on this going into our game against Central." Pekin hosts the Lions at Coal Miners Park at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

JV played first and they were handled fairly easily. Washington had slaughtered us in the past, so it didn’t look promising. On the bright side for us, their all-time leading scorer, one of the top players in the area the previous four years graduated, but they clearly had some skilled players with club background. My plan was to mark one of their players who had scored 3 vs. IVC, a team I thought to be similar to ours. And it worked. She didn’t score. They scored on a beautiful free kick by Michelle Rhodes that was just under the cross bar. Aimee St. Andre scored on a great pass from Sam Grimes, but despite several chances after that, we were unable to tie the game. Still after losing to them 6-0, 6-0 and 9-1 the previous three years, this was a huge improvement and gave me a lot of hope for the rest of the season.

Game 1 - Notre Dame

I had trouble sleeping the night before our first game. Not because of the competition... we haven't scored in 15 previous games against Notre Dame. But having never been a head coach at this level, it was a little intimidating to say the least. I was anxious to get through the first one. And it turned out as expected. Notre Dame won in a romp, but there were signs of hope here. At halftime, the score was 2-0. Yes, Notre Dame dominated the ball, but my girls played with great desire. They came out flat in the second half, just as Notre Dame was settling down and that meant 4 goals. But we showed a lot of heart.

2004 Recap

The next 20 posts will recap my first season with the team. Here's a link to pictures of our season. Some will be accounts carried in the Pekin Times.