Normal West 8, Pekin 0

The Pekin girls soccer team’s dream season came to an end Tuesday losing 8-0 to undefeated Normal West at the Moline regional. The loss also ended Pekin’s first ever five game winning streak and was the second straight year the Wildcats defeated the Dragon’s in the postseason.

After scoring 37 goals in the regular season, Wildcats freshman Kayla Braffett scored two first half goals, the first one coming on a follow when a teammate’s shot hit the left goal post.

Pekin’s best chance came midway through the first half when a Tori Udry free kick from 30 yards out hit the bottom of the crossbar and Aimee St. Andre was nearly able to score on a follow up of her own.

“We had our chances. Tory had a great left foot shot that curved hard to the right and forced their keeper to make a diving save," said Pekin coach Edgar Sandoval. And Aimee had several deep runs into their defensive third. We just couldn’t finish one off.”

The Wildcats outshot the Dragons 30 to 3. Pekin senior goalkeepers Jen Adkison and Bethany Smith combined for 20 saves.

“My girls can hold their heads up high knowing that they finished with the first ever winning record in program history and they lost to a team that could make a deep run into the playoffs,” Sandoval added.

Normal West improves to 20-0. Pekin ended the season at 11-7-1. The Dragons lose 12 seniors including the school’s all-time leading scorer, St. Andre as well as star freshman defender Marissa Fandel, who was recently accepted into the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora.
“Losing eight starters and all those seniors is going to be a challenge for us. But there were some solid JV players and there is a strong group of in coming freshmen that play club soccer and attend the Bradley University camp each summer," Sandoval said. "I expect many of them to compete for varsity spots and help continue what this great group of seniors helped start.”