Billy Hurst | For The Telegraph
Scott Kane File Photo | For The Telegraph
When the gray rubber artificial turf dust settled around 9:30 Wednesday night, a pair of high school soccer games some 12 miles apart had eerily similar finishes.
And fans made their long drives – happy drives – back to Alton.
While probably not enough to qualify for a Twilight Zone plot, there were striking similarities between the two games.
Consider, if you will …
Marquette Catholic survived an overtime penalty-kick marathon battle with Waterloo Gibault in the semifinals of the Althoff Class 1A Sectional Tournament at McKendree University in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, just down spooky Old Lebanon-Troy Road and through Collinsville’s infamous Seven Gates of Hell (Google it), the Alton Redbirds survived a marathon of their own. They got past Belleville East on an overtime penalties in the semifinals of the Class 3A Collinsville Regional at Kahok Stadium. Alton’s OT battle did Marquette’s one better. It came in the first round of sudden-death penalty kicks.
“I’m so happy for our girls,” Alton coach Jeff Hayes said. “This means a lot to them and the fans.”
Both games ended with a save by the winning team’s goalie.
Alton’s Julia May Campbell stopped Lauren Buschur’s PK to preserve the victory after teammate Lexi Schrimpf had converted hers leading off the second set – a sudden-death set – of penalties.
Marquette Lauren Fischer, with her team leading in its set of five PKs 4-3, saved a shot by Gibault’s Carly Olson in the fourth round, setting off an on-field celebration by the Explorers.
“Penalty kicks is a tough way to win, but it’s even tougher to lose on them,” Marquette coach Steve Mitchell said. “I’ve coached teams that have done both.”
The victories by Alton’s two prep teams mean they’ll make the return drive Saturday. Marquette will face Columbia at 4:30 p.m. in the sectional final at McKendree. Alton will face host and top-seeded Collinsville at 5 p.m. at Kahok Stadium.
At stake Saturday for the Kahoks and Redbirds will be a berth in next week’s 3A Sectional. Marquette will be looking for a return to the Illinois-Springfield 3A Super-Sectional, set for next Tuesday.
The PK win for Alton was its 12th victory of the season, but was its first over a Southwestern Conference opponent. The Lancers had defeated the Redbirds 1-0 earlier in the season in Belleville in a game Hayes described as one he and his assistant coaches had revisited several times in the interim between contests.
“We had some good chances in the first game against East,” Hayes said. “We really didn’t need to change tactics (for the rematch), just do the same things we had done better.”
Evidently the plan worked – but it took a while to come to fruition.
In the 1A sectional at McKendree’s Leemon Field, it was Gibault looking for a better result the second time around against Marquette. The Hawks had dropped a late-season 5-0 decision to Marquette at Gordon Moore Park.
Gibault gave the Explorers much more to handle the second time around.
Against East, Katie Kercher, assisted by Morgan Rauscher, gave the Redbirds a 1-0 lead, but high-scoring Lancer Grace Brauer tied it at 1-1 with her 26th. goal of the season. And that’s the way it remained until the PKs
In the first set of penalty kicks, Alton’s Annie Evans hit the crossbar and Sydney Mossman’s shot was saved. But the Redbirds rallied with successful attempts by Bri Hatfield, Calista Cox and Sydney Schmidt to tie it at 3-3.
With the Lancers shooting second in the first set of PKs, Annie Brown had a chance to lift her team to the victory after Schmidt’s conversion had tied it 3-3. But Brown’s shot was wide, setting up the thrilling conclusion.
Meanwhile, in the Marquette-Gibault game in Lebanon, Gibault’s Abby Hasenstab opened the shootout by clanging her shot off the right goalpost. That meant the Explorers need only convert all their chances to advance, but on the fifth set of shooters, Fischer left nothing to chance and secured the victory.
After Hasenstab’s miss, Marquette’s Bailey Hartrich scored. The Hawks got successful attempts from Robyn Lindsey, Maddie O’Neill and Abby Phelps before Hasenstab shot. Marquette got other PKs from Lauren Walsh, Elisa Senno and Adrianna Schindler.
Both coaches know their teams have tough assignments Saturday.
Top-seeded Collinsvile beat Alton 4-0 during the regular season.
“O’Fallon had a fantastic season, so this win is special to the girls,” Hayes said. “Collinsville has a great team, but we’re hoping to come in Saturday, play well, hopefully get some breaks and be a spoiler.”
Columbia and Marquette didn’t meet this season, but Mitchell knows the Eagles will be a handful.
“(Columbia) is a good team,” Mitchell said. “Hey, this is the playoffs and the games do not get easier as you go. You have to grind it out.”
Reach Pete Hayes at 463-2500 or Twitter @HayeserPete
