Game 14 - Peoria Christian

With two regular season games left on the schedule, the Pekin girls soccer team equaled their win total from a season ago with an exciting 2-1 victory over Peoria Christian. Neither team could manage a goal in the first half. The best chance for the Chargers came midway through when a Pekin defender was called for a handball in the box. But Pekin goalkeeper Jen Adkison was at the top of her game and able to save the 11 yarder to keep the game tied.

“Jen had a great day in goal. I’m a big believer that the great majority of penalty kicks are going to go in at any level of soccer and I love that she proved me wrong!”

Just three minutes into the second half, Aimee St. Andre had a breakaway and a clear path to the goal when she was tackled from behind by a Peoria Christian defender. Breanna Zimmerman put the penalty kick into the left corner to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead. Minutes later, after a mad scramble up front, it was St. Andre again who put a shot on goal. Chargers keeper Kortnie Slusher was able to deflect it, but it rolled just to the left of the goal. Zimmerman was there for the follow and sent it home to make it 2-0.

Peoria Christian got on the board in the 64th minute when freshman Katie Vercler scored, but the Chargers could get no closer. Stephanie Sheffler, Ashley Poston, Susan Howard and Haley Renner, in her first game of the season, led a fierce Pekin defensive effort, thwarting run after run in the game’s final minutes.

“Our defense really stepped up today. The energy they brought for the entire 80 minutes was the difference. We’ve had three hard fought ties and a close loss so it was nice to go home a winner in a tight contest.”
The Dragons are 4-7-3 for the season. The team travels to Peoria Manual for a conference road game on Tuesday. Pekin won the first matchup between the teams 7-0.