Pekin Lady Dragons Soccer: May 2005

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.”

Pekin 5, Rock Island 4

Another first for Dragons
By Times staff
MOLINE -- Pekin's soccer team added another happy chapter to its storybook season Saturday with its first-ever post-season win -- a 5-4 dramatic come-from-behind victory over Rock Island at the Moline Regional. Trailing 4-3, the Dragons scored two goals in the final five minutes to take the win. After a Rock Island foul, Tory Udry pushed the ball to the top of the box where Aimee St. Andre flicked it to a cutting Sam Berry, who faked out Rock Island's goalkeeper, Anne Ledford. Penalty Instead of allowing a sure goal, Ledford tackled Berry from behind. Still, Pekin's Sam Grimes converted the penalty kick to tie the game 4-4 with 1:14 left to play. "Sam had missed a couple of PKs earlier in the season, and she was kind of down about it," Pekin coach Edgar Sandoval said. "Since then, I've been telling her that I have confidence in her to be the one to take them. As a captain, she can choose another shooter, but when the foul was called, she looked over and I yelled to her 'It's your call.' She really stepped up." The game-winning goal was set up with a minute left. Amber Poston got a breakaway chance, but a Rock Island defender deflected the ball over the end line. Grimes quickly got a corner kick into the heart of the box and a weaving St. Andre headed it into the left corner of the goal with 31 seconds left. "This was an amazing finish," Sandoval said. "In my first two years here, we've had several letdowns late in games that cost us, so for my girls to come back like this is terrific. After giving up a PK with five minutes to go (which made it 4-3), they could have given up, but they showed an incredible amount of heart today." St. Andre and Grimes each had two goals. St. Andre assisted Udry on the other. Pekin (11-6-1) has now won five matches in a row. The Dragons play undefeated, No. 1-seeded Normal West at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Moline.