Xavier Girls Soccer

No. 1 Saints fall to No. 2 West in OT

IOWA CITY -- Emma Winstead's overtime goal lifted Iowa City West past Xavier, 2-1, Saturday in a girls soccer game between highly ranked opponents.

West, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A, bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Kennedy earlier in the day.

Xavier, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, suffered only its second loss of the season.

Xavier's Elizabeth Bailey and West's Winstead had goals in regulation, which ended in a 1-1 tie.

Xavier (6-2, 6-2 MVC) whipped Iowa City High, 3-0, in its first game Saturday.

Warrior 'D' key to thrilling win

The Cedar Rapids Washington girls soccer team had some true Warriors in the back line Tuesday night at Kingston Stadium.

But none were bigger than goalie Sophia Malcolm, who shutout Class 2A top-ranked Xavier for a 1-0 victory.

“Our goalie played a heck of a game. She came up with some great saves and played well,” Washington Coach Chad Hollmer said.

“I would like to congratulate Washington tonight. They played a hard game and it was a good win for them,” Xavier Coach Doug Graham said.

Class 3A No. 9 Washington (4-1, 3-1 MVC) turned back 11 shots on goal and a number of other dangerous looking attacks from a high-powered Xavier offense.

Washington was bottled up on its counters for the majority of the game but was able to turn one long ball forward into what turned out to be the only goal of the game.  The Warriors’ Maddi Hines played a nice long ball through the aggressive Saints attack to find Tori Carson flying down the field.

“Offensively, we were trying to stay wide and get numbers forward,” Hollmer said. “With them being offensive it does leave gaps in the defense. If we can take advantage of that we will do it.”

Carson made one nice move to give herself a good look at goal and then drove the ball into the far corner of the net for an early Warrior goal.

“It always important to score the first goal,” Hollmer said. "As much as they are (known for) offense, I think we are an offensive force to be reckoned with, too.”

“It’s a great experience. It‘s unrealistic to think we are going to win every game,” Graham said of getting behind early in the game. “We try to take the positives from all of them. This is one we will be able use a lot to work on and get better for state.”

Xavier (5-1, 5-1) has won six straight state titles.

The rest of the game saw a furious attack from the Saints as they tried to level the score.

“We tried some different things tonight to see where our weapons come out of,” Graham said. “Our midfielders didn’t connect well with the forwards.”

“Message in the second half was to keep doing what we are doing. We had the lead so I won’t say sit in but stay compact and keep our shape,” Hollmer said. “We got a lot of good girls that take pride in that defensive work.”

The Warriors handled the offensive pressure and turned back attack after attack to get a thrilling victory.

“Xavier is a great team. It's great for our confidence,” Homer said. “I told them one game at a time. I don’t want this to be our best game. At the end of the year I want that last game to be our best game.”

Washington travels to Dubuque Senior on Friday for a makeup game. Xavier will look to get back on track Saturday at Iowa City High and Iowa City West.

“We take one game at a time,” Graham said. “We will just try to keep working on it and see how it goes.”

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON 1, CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER 0
Goals: CRW – Tori Carson. Assists: CRW – Maddi Hines.

No. 1 Saints shutout Wahlert in girls soccer

Lauren Konchar scored a pair of goals to lead Class 2A No. 1 Xavier past Class 1A No. 5 Dubuque Wahlert, 4-0, Thursday in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls soccer game at Xavier.

Annie Dale and Elizabeth Bailey also scored goals for the Saints (5-0, 5-0).

Kayla Armstrong and Sydney Wright had assists for Xavier. Keeper Sarah Chicchelly had two saves.

No. 1 Saints whip No. 3 Waverly-Shell Rock, 6-1

Annie Dale and Kayla Armstrong scored two goals apiece and No. 1 Xavier overpowered No. 3 Waverly-Shell Rock, 6-1, Tuesday in a battle of Class 2A ranked girls soccer teams at Xavier.

Marisa Berutti and Monica Busse also scored goals for Xavier (4-0).

Dale and Lauren Konchar had two assists apiece. Busse and Lizzy McWhinney also had assists.

Xavier keeper Sara Chicchelly had four saves.

Xavier 6, Waverly-Shell Rock 1

Goals: WSR -- Clair Wadding; CRX -- Annie Dale  2, Kayla Armstrong 2, Marisa Berutti, Monica Busse. Assists: CRX -- Dale 2, Lauren Konchar 2, Lizzy McWhinney, Busse.