Scott Kane | For The Telegraph
GODFREY — In prepping for their postseason opener, Jeff Hayes and his Alton Redbirds girls soccer team needed to look no further than an April 11 loss at Belleville East.
The 1-0 loss to the Lancers has been the subject of conversation among the Alton players and coaches in the time since.
“We’re excited about getting another shot at East,” said Hayes, whose Alton team will take on the Lancers at 7 p.m. Wednesday on the artificial turf of Collinsville’s Kahok Stadium. That game will follow the first semifinal pitting Collinsville against O’Fallon. The semifinal winners will meet for the championship at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“We remember that loss well and have talked about it several times since then,” Hayes said of the defeat to the Lancers, “so I think the girls will have no problem preparing for a rematch.
“(East) has had a great year, so beating them would be a big win for us.”
It would also be the Redbirds’ first over a Southwestern Conference team this season. Even though they’ve put together an 11-5-3 record, four of the losses and two of the ties came in league play.
“The first game against East was a close one,” Hayes said. “They came out ready to play and we didn’t. We spent too much time trying to get back in the game on one play, rather than laying with composure and doing things that have helped us be successful.”
Alton drew the No. 5 seed in Sub-Sectional A feeding into the Normal Community Sectional Tournament and East (15-6) is seeded No. 4. Host Collinsville is the top seed and O’Fallon is seeded No. 7.
The other teams in the sub-sectional are assigned to the Granite City Regional, led by No. 2 Edwardsville, No. 3 Belleville West, No. 6 Granite City and No. 8 Quincy.
“We don’t need to do anything differently to win this game” Hayes said of the rematch with East. “We just need to do it better. we created some good chances, but their keeper (Grace Tantillo) played a great game against us.”
Tantillo made six saves in the Lancers’ shutout victory in Belleville.
Shutting out the Redbirds hasn’t been an easy chore this season. In fact, it’s only happened three, and one of those was scoreless tie with Granite City. The other was a 4-0 loss to Collinsville.
“We have allowed fewer goals than last year, even though we have played more games,” Hayes said of his team’s defense. “Annie (Evans) and Lexi (Schrimpf) have played a couple years together in the backfield, so I expected a lot out of them. But Calista Cox and Taylor Imming have filled big holes in our back line.”
Alton is led by the one-two-three punch of Bri Hatfield, Alaina Nasello and Katie Kercher.
Hatfield, a sophomore, scored 14 goals and added 10 assists. Freshman Nasello has nine goals and five assists and sophomore Kercher seven goals and five assists.
“I couldn’t have asked for better results in terms of our goal production and goals allowed,” Hayes said. “We have scored nearly three times more goals this season compared to last year.
“Katie, Bri and Alaina are tough to handle when they work together. They create space and chances for each other. It’s just a matter of keeping them on the same page.”
East is paced by Grace Bauer, who has scored 26 goals and added five assists. But even though she’s among the top scorers in the area this season, it wasn’t Bauer who scored in her team’s 1-0 win over Alton. That goal came from Lauren Bushcur, who has scored six times this season.
Defensively, Tantillo and the Lancers have six shutouts. East has given up 32 goals. But the Lancers are riding a six-game winning streak heading into the postseason.
“We still have a few girls banged up, but it’s been a week since our last game,” Hayes said. “Injuries won’t be an excuse.
“This is high school soccer, so I feel we have a chance to win. I’m always optimistic, but I know the other coaches are, too.
“If we look ahead to Saturday, then we have no chance of winning Wednesday.”
Reach Pete Hayes at 463-2500 or Twitter @HayeserPete
