Pekin 4, East Peoria 1

Soccer milestone
PEKIN -- Aimee St. Andre scored all four goals as Pekin defeated East Peoria 4-1 Saturday to set a new girls' soccer program high for wins in a season.
It was Pekin's first triumph over the Raiders in its seven-year program and brings the Dragons' record to 7-6-1. Last year's team set the school record for wins in a season at six and this year's squad is now just two wins away from its first winning season.
Pekin got on the board when Jaleighsa Hamilton dribbled past two East Peoria defenders and found St. Andre in the clear.
"Aimee has been doing it all season," said Pekin second-year coach Edgar Sandoval. "But this was by far her best game and maybe the best game of her career."
St. Andre added two more goals in the first half and then closed out the scoring with a header in the final minute. Tory Udry launched a free kick into the heart of the box and St. Andre put it home.
Pekin has three games left. The Dragons travel to Peoria Christian at 4:30 p.m. today, then have Senior Night at home against Manual on Tuesday before closing out the regular season on Thursday at Woodruff. Pekin has beaten the latter two teams earlier this season.

This was a pretty emotional day. On Friday, I got word that Jen's (our starting goalkeper) aunt was the Metamora police officer who died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 32. Jen came to practice and basically said she wasn't sure if she'd be back this year, to which I told her this is just a game... that being with family was way more important than anything else right now and we would all understand if she didn't come back this year.

This morning, she called. Her parents felt her aunt would have wanted her to play today. Before the game, as she and Bethany were warming up at the goal, I fought back tears as I told the rest of the girls that today wasn't about having fun or about winning or losing. It was about being there for Jen.

After the game there were lots of hugs and tears. And after the game some of the other girls told Jen they won this game for her and her aunt. Jen showed so much courage and played so well coming out when her heart and mind were understandably some place else.