GRANITE CITY — What went around came back around on the Alton girls soccer team Wednesday night.

A tweak here, an adjustment there and a change in attitude turned out to be the winning formula for the Granite City girls soccer team Wednesday night – and the end of the season for Alton.

Granite City knocked off Alton 4-0 in a semifinal of the Quincy Class 3A Regional at Granite City’s Gene Baker Field. Just 10 days ago, Alton downed Granite City 2-1 at AHS.

But the Warriors were having none of that Wednesday.

“One difference was that our girls came to play tonight,” Granite City coach Kenny Prazma said, ” and we put a lot of pressure on (Alton’s) defense.

“That’s the style of play we want to use every game, but we didn’t get it the first game (against Alton).”

The victory means the Warriors (14-5) will take on Collinsville (15-6-1) in the championship game Friday at McKendree University in Lebanon. The change from Quincy’s Flinn Stadium was made after Collinsville ousted Quincy 10-2 Tuesday, leaving only Metro East schools still alive in the tournament.

Alton bows out at 12-6-2.

“Granite came out hard and their forwards pressured our defense,” Alton coach Jeff Hayes said. “That was something we did (in the last game) to them and helped us get the win.”

The Warriors led 1-0 at halftime on a Lexi Grote penalty kick, but quickly made it 2-0 early in the second on a Grace Neihardt goal.

The weather threatened to wreak havoc with play Wednesday. Strong gusting winds played tricks with the ball, especially in the first half. But in the end, in was not Mother Nature, but the Warriors who deserve the credit, according to Alton’s Hayes.

“(Granite City) played a good game and that’s why they won,” Hayes said. “The wind really affected things at times, but it didn’t determine who won the game.”

Prazma agreed.

“The wind was really bad at times,” he said, “but it affected both teams.”

Niehardt made it 2-0 when she volleyed in a Grote corner kick from the left side. The ball slipped inside the far post.

The Redbirds then created several good scoring chances in an effort to cut the Granite City lead in half.

In the 56th minute, Alton’s Brianna Hatfield took over a loose ball in the penalty area and was one-on-one with Granite goalie Viktoria Johnson, who smothered Hatfield’s shot about six yards out.

In the 62nd minute, Alaina Nasello stole a defensive pass in the penalty area, but her shot was wide right.

Grote made it 3-0 in the 64th minute. she got a through pass from Niehardt just past the center stripe and raced in alone on Alton goalie Kaija Ufert. Grote deked the bail around Ufert and tapped it in.

The final goal came from Abigail Reeves, who blasted a direct free kick from about 40 yards out in the 79th minute.

“It’s been an interesting season,” Hayes said. ” These girls did some things that hadn’t been done for a while. They won three (Southwestern) conference games and they improved along the way. It’s a really good group.”

GODFREY — The season scoring line on Katie Kercher is fairly impressive enough – seven goals and seven assists with one game-winning goal.

But the junior forward has developed into so much more for the 9-3-1 Alton girls soccer team. In fact, Redbirds coach Jeff Hayes said that when presented with her to-do list, Kercher went to work straightaway.

“I’ve told her that her role is more than just scoring goals,” Hayes said. “She’s taken it to heart and does a tremendous job of running down balls, beating defenders and setting up her teammates.

I don’t think she gets enough credit for the little things she can do in a game,” Hayes said. “She’s starting to draw more attention because of it.”

The attention isn’t just from fans, of course. Opposing teams realize they have someone else to be worried with on the Redbirds.

“My first job is to play as hard as I can,” Kercher said. “I think playing up top, I try to apply as much pressure as I can. I need to do whatever I can to help our team keep possession of the ball and to create chances to score goals.”

That she has done.

To wit: In Tuesday’s 5-0 win over Breese Mater Dei, Kercher outraced the Mater Dei defense to more than one loose ball that may have otherwise been a throw-in for the Knights. In one case, Kercherhad crossed a pass to teammate won the ball deep in Mater Dei territory and banked a shot in off a Knights defender for a goal. Earlier, she assisted a Lindsey Grossheim goal with a crisp pass from the left.

While plays like those improve Kercher’s stats, it’s the intangibles she brings to the table that are just an impressive to her coach.

“Over the past two years, she has improved on holding off defenders,” Hayes said, “attacking with speed and poise along with finishing.”

Kercher plays club soccer for Sporting Saint Louis SC. And while she recognizes that playing for a high-level club has helped her land that starting role at AHS, she said there is a difference between club and high school soccer that has been recognized by Hayes – and has also helped the Redbirds.

“(Hayes) knows there’s a difference in style between club and high school,” Kercher said. “Club can more about possession and connecting a lot of passes, but some clubs play different styles.

“High school is a different style. We have girls from several clubs on the high school team, but we all play the same style of high school soccer and that’s important.”

Kercher, while determined on the field, doesn’t often loose her cool.

“Her teammates tease her for being such an easy-going person,” Hayes said. “She’s like that on the field too. But she’ll still run through anyone to win a ball and score or set up her teammate. She really doesn’t care which it is.”

Kercher, who’s played varsity since her freshman season, was a solid player her first two seasons at AHS, but has risen the bar this year.

“(Kercher) has been a work horse up top all season,” Hayes said. “She is just a great person to coach and be around. As a sophomore, she did well but this has been a break out season for her.”

Kercher has scored some memorable goals this season, including a pair of them in a 3-2 victory over Althoff. But ever the good teammate, she’s just as happy when teammates score.

Her season’s favorite memory so far?

“The goal Bri (Hatfield) scored late to tie Althoff at McKendree,” Kercher said. “It was really a nice shot.”

So, who assisted on that nice Hatfield goal?

“Oh yeah,” Kercher admitted. “I crossed it to her.”

GODFREY — Jeff Hayes had little to complain about following his Alton High girls soccer team’s 5-0 victory over Breese Mater Dei Tuesday. Oh, he would have liked his Redbirds to have capitalized on a few more chances, but he felt five goals is a good number.

“I can’t complain,” Hayes said. “We had a lot of chances, but when you put five goal up, it’s a good night.”

Meanwhile, in other area soccer results Tuesday, Marquette Catholic defeated Waterloo Gibault 5-0, Edwardsville topped Granite City 4-1, Carlinville blanked Jersey 3-0, Civic Memorial downed Mascoutah 1-0 and Roxana beat East Alton-Wood River 4-0.

“It was a good, consistent effort tonight,” Alton’s Hayes said. “It was our Senior Night and sometimes, that can’t be a distraction, but that didn’t happen.

“I thought our girls moved the ball well and created chances.

Alton outshot the Knights 13-2.

The nonconference victory lifts Alton to 9-3-1 on the season. The Redbirds came into the game on the heels of a 3-1 loss at Columbia Monday.

Against Mater Dei, the Redbirds got in the scoreboard in the eighth minute when Brianna Hatfield scored from about 18 yards on a shot from the left side of the penalty area.

It was 2-0 in the 15th minute when Lindsey Grossheim scored, when she redirected a cross from the left from Katie Kercher.

It took a while, but he Redbirds pulled away in the second half.

In the 59th minute, Hatfield scored her 14th goal of the season on a 20-yard blast, assisted by Makalya Cox. Less than a minute later, Kercher banked in a shot off the Mater Dei defense on a play that started on a corner kick by Hatfield.

Morgan Rauscher’s goal, assisted by Grossheim, wrapped up the scoring in the 73rd minute.

“It was a good win for us,” Hayes said. “It’s nice come back quickly after (Monday’s loss). We didn’t play bad Monday, but it was still good to come back and play well.”

HAZELWOOD, Mo. — The Alton Redbirds got some return on their shots Tuesday night. And even though they would have liked a higher return, the result was still a 3-0 victory over Trinity Catholic High.

“We were frustrated that we had so much pressure on them with little to show for it,” said Alton coach Jeff Hayes, whose team outshot Trinity 23-8. “But we kept our composure and played hard the entire 80 minutes.”

The nonconference victory lifted Alton to 8-2-1 on the season and came on the heels of the Redbirds’ first Southwestern Conference loss of the season, 4-1 last Thursday at Collinsville.

“It was nice to bounce back from a rough loss by getting a win,” Hayes said.

Alton got on the scoreboard early when Brianna Hatfield scored her 12th goal of the season.

The play started when Makayla Cox played the ball to the corner to Alaina Nasello, beat a Trinity defender and dropped the ball back to Hatfield, who cut to the center of the field, beat another defender and scored inside the far post.

The shots kept coming after that early goal, but it wasn’t until well into the second half before Alton’s second goal.

It came after Taylor Imming won a loose ball at midfield and dropped it to teammate Lexi Schrimpf, whose shot from about 50 yards took a wild bounce over Trinity goalie Kiersten Weber in the 58th minute to make it 2-0.

In the 70th minute, Maggie Evans made a run down right wing and slotted the ball to Breana Smith, who settled the ball and then scored to the right corner.

Kaija Ufert notched the shutout in goal for Alton. It was the Redbirds’ third shutout of the season.

“I’m happy our defense has a shutout to show for it,” Hayes said. “They’ve been playing hard and they deserve it.”

LEBANON — Bri Hatfield and her Alton High soccer teammates were under the gun late in their matchup with Belleville Althoff Wednesday night at McKendree University.

They were also under pressure, the rain, under the lights – and under the weather.

But the Redbirds found a way. More precisely, Hatfield and teammate Katie Kercher found a way.

Hatfield took a pass from Kercher and scored with 20 seconds remaining in the game, lifting Alton to a 1-1 tie with Althoff. It was a game that came close to not being played. Because of rainy weather, it was moved from Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville to McKendree’s artificial playing surface.

“(Althoff coach) Jurgen (Hunter) and I were really wanting to get this one played,” Alton coach Jeff Hayes said. “The first time we played was such a good game and we wanted to play again.”

Alton edged Althoff 3-2 March 18 in the championship game of the Metro Cup tournament in Columbia.

With the tie, Alton pushed its record to 5-1-1. Althoff is 6-1-1.

“I feel really good about how the girls played tonight,” Hayes said. “The conditions were what they were. Playing in a little rain is no big deal. Althoff is an excellent team and we were able to beat them and tie them.”

Alton trailed 1-0 at halftime, but picked up the pace in the second half and applied considerable pressure to the Crusaders. They peppered Althoff goalie Rachel Monken with shots – but no goals.

That is, until the waning seconds of the second half.

Kercher, under pressure from four Althoff defenders, sent the ball from right wing toward the left goal post. Hatfield, making a back-post run, popped in the tying goal from about six yards out.

“It was a good run and a great pass,” Hayes said. “We had several chances in the second half and finally put one of them in.”

One of the Redbirds’ other chances came with about eight minutes remaining when Hatfield’s shot that looked to be a sure goal was instead saved by Monken. And with four minutes left, Kercher hit a blast from 20 yards out that hit the crossbar.

Althoff had taken its 1-0 halftime lead n a goal by Amanda Kaltwasser, who out out of a scramble from about 10 yards out.

The Redbirds were without the services of four regulars, including Grace Kane, Lindsey Grossheim, Lexi Schrempf and starting goalie Michaela Lucas. But Hayes found the replacements more than adequate.

“I called up three freshmen from the junior varsity about 45 minutes befoe the bus left Alton,” Hayes said. “And they all played and did a great job.”

Freshmen called up included Emma Voumard, Nora Steiner and Maggie Evans. Another freshman, backup goalie Kaija Ufert, helped anchor the defense.

“(Ufert” did a real good job in goal,” Hayes said, “and the other freshmen who played did, too.”

After they dry off and warm up, the Redbirds will get ready for another nonconference game at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at home at home against Oakville, Missouri. Alton, which is 1-0 in the league, will return to Southwestern Conference action April 10 at home against Belleville East.

O”FALLON — After eight years, what’s another week or so?

Alton, fresh off a week-long layoff between games, got back into the swing of things Tuesday evening and ended an eight-year drought against Southwestern Conference rival O’Fallon the process.

The Redbirds (4-0) got a pair of goals from Brianna Hatfield as well as a goal and two assists from sophomore Alaina Nasello and knocked off O’Fallon 4-2.

“I think I might be more excited than the girls,” Alton second-year head coach Jeff Hayes said about Alton’s first victory over O’Fallon since 2009 and their first regular-season Southwestern Conference victory since a 3-2 win at Belleville West on May 15, 2014.

“I’m proud of these girls to get a win in our conference,” Hayes said. “They have been hard to come by.”

The victory came in the Redbirds’ first game since a 3-2 win over Belleville Althoff on March 18 in the championship game of the Metro Cup tournament.

“The long layoff had no effect on us,” Hayes said.

Evidently not.

The Redbirds controlled the flow of play from the outset Tuesday. They grabbed the lead in the ninth minute when Hatfield scored from an assist by Nasello, who was attacking the Panthers right wing.

In the 24th minute, Alton’s Morgan Rauscher made it 2-0 when she was assisted by Nasello.

A 26th-minute penalty kick goal by O’Fallon’s Samantha Stutsman cut the Alton lead in half, making it 2-1 at halftime.

Nasello, scored in the 52nd minute, assisted by Annie Evans to give Alton a 3-1 lead. The play began with a corner kick from Hatfield to the far post. Evans played the ball back across the goal to Nasello, who put it in the back of the net.

“I’m glad (Nasello) made it in the stat column,” Hayes said. “She is putting a lot of pressure on herself to perform in each game. if she comes out, plays hard and has fun, she will help us will a lot of games.”

Last season in her freshman year, Nasello had nine goals and five assists.

A minute later, Stutsman scored again for O’Fallon out of a scramble in front of the Redbirds goal in the 53rd minute, making it 3-2. But Hatfield scored in the 80th minute, assisted by Calista Cox, to ice the victory.

“We put their back line under pressure from the beginning,” Hayes said. “They did a great job of tracking back when we would break through. That kept the game close.

“These girls are already focused on playing Althoff,” he said. “I like their focus right now.”

Alton will play Althoff at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Southwestern Illinois Community College in Belleville.

Highland 1, CM 0 – Audrey Wilke scored the game’s only goal in the 28th minute in Mississippi Valley Conference action in Bethalto. she was asssted by Megan Ramsey.

CM dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the MVC. Highland is 4-3 overall and 1-2 inthe conference.

Winning back-to-back Metro Cup titles is a feather in the cap of Alton girls soccer coach Jeff Hayes. And following the Redbirds’ victory over Belleville Althoff in Saturday night’s championship game, he indicated that this year’s feather may be just a little bigger.

“I was more concerned with winning the tournament this year than last year,” Hayes said following his team’s 3-2 victory over Belleville Althoff in the title match at Columbia High school. “Last year we won it, but I thought we might have slipped up on some of the teams.

“This year, teams were more prepared for us. We had three tough games to win this time and that’s really what we want at this time of the year. It seems like teams were already in mid-season form as far as fitness and the way they played.”

Hayes includes his own team among those with high fitness levels. The Redbirds took part in a six-week strength and conditioning program coordinated through Elite FT and its director, former Granite City and SIUE soccer standout Justin McMillian, who’s a former high school teammate of Hayes.

“It was a specific program for what our team needs,” Hayes said. “It’s hard work, but it paid off.”

Hayes added that conditioning for early spring soccer is different from early summer soccer.

“Definitely,” he said. “Nobody wants to stand around in the cold; you might as well be doing something and be in shape for it.”

With junior standout Brianna Hatfield and her high-scoring ways drawing most of the attention from opposing defenses, the Redbirds are in need of other goal scoring threats. And in just three games, it appears there will indeed be some relief.

Hatfield scored 14 goals and added 10 assists last season and had nine goals and an assist as a freshman.

“The other teams have girls tracking (Hatfield) all over the field,” Hayes said. “If she comes over to the sideline to talk to me, there’s a good chance a defender might just come with her.

“But we do have other girls who score.”

Indeed. In three games, the Redbirds have six goals, with four different players scoring. Saturday, Katie Kercher had two goals and Lindsay Grossheim one. In Friday’s night’s semifinal win over Columbia, Hatfield scored twice and in the opening 1-0 win over Marion, Morgan Rauscher scored.

Against Althoff, Kercher scored in the ninth minute from an assist by Lexi Schrimpf. After Althoff’s Emilia O’Neil tied it in the 13th minute, Grossheim scored from another Schrimpf assist to make t 2-1 Alton at halftime.

In the second half, Kercher’s second goal, assisted by Makayla Cox gave the Redbirds a 3-1 lead. Althoff’s Abby Lanter scored in the 73rd minute.

While the Alton players recognize the importance of scoring, they apparently also appreciate other aspects of the game. Following the championship game win over Althoff, the Alton captains selected sophomore midfielder Megan Zini as the tournament MVP.

“Megan is one of the most versatile players I’ve seen,” Hayes said. “In the first game against Marion, she played center back and is the next two games, she played some at wing, some attacking midfielder and some at striker. She’s about 5-6 and lean. She’s a tremendous role player and can do a really good job for us all over the field.

“It’s rare to have versatile players like that you have confidence in, no matter where they play.

“Our captains recognized that and they decided to vote her as the tourney MVP. Last year, she came in late and got some quality minutes in some games, but this year, it’s rare to see her come off the field.”

The Redbirds have more than a week off before their next action, the Southwestern Conference opener at O’Fallon.

“Playing three quality teams like we did in his tournament is what we need to help us get ready for the rest of the season,” Hayes said. “We look at the (SWC) games as almost their own season within a season. And it starts against O’Fallon.”