This past weekend saw St. Louis Lions WPSL chalk up a pair of road victories and jettisoned their record in the Heartland Division of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL).
Saturday’s 3-1 win over KC Courage and Sunday’s similar score over FC Wichita added six points to their ledger that now stands at 5-2-1 (16 points) and maintained their position of second place in the six-team standings.
Photo Credit: Mick Lite Photography
St. Louis finishes off their regular season in a weekend home surge against Springfield Lady Demize (0-7-0, 0 points) on Saturday and KC Courage (2-5-0, 6 points) on Sunday. Both games take place at 2 p.m. at the Tony Glavin Soccer Complex (#2 Woodlands Parkway, Cottleville, MO).
If the Lions collect the sweep this weekend, they would finish the regular season with 22 points, which would replicate the current amount of divisional leader Elite Girls Academy (7-1-1, 22 points).
The Elite have one final game in their pocket, a July 6 match-up against FC Wichita. If the Omaha, Nebraska based- team loses, then they and the Lions would finish the regular season with a points stalemate, although the Elite would technically finish first due to the pair’s head-to-head match-ups (one victory, one draw in favor of Omaha).
Nevertheless, the Lions set new benchmarks this past weekend as the five overall wins and points collected succeeded last year’s inaugural campaign (2-2-4, 10 points in 2018).
In Saturday’s afternoon road game against KC Courage, the Lions drew first blood at the 40-minute mark as midfielder Christina Rodriguez corralled a feed from Kristen Sparks and hit the corner of the net for the 1-0 edge.
The Courage tied the score three minutes later with Bailey Bologna’s first goal of the season.
Four minutes into the second half, Lions forward Hannah Larson claimed her second goal of the season with a shot that caromed off the crossbar and went into the net that gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead.
At the 73-minute mark, Rodriguez netted her second goal of the game, thanks to defender Lindsay Sands’ assist, that pushed the score to 3-1
Propelled by the stingy Lions’ defense, goalie Mary Niehaus faced minimal shots and recorded her fourth victory of the year.
Photo Credit: Mick Lite Photography
Sunday’s meeting with FC Wichita saw the Lions play extremely aggressive from the opening whistle and claim the first strike at the 16-minute mark as forward Maddie Bauer sent a feed to Larson who recorded her third goal of the season that gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, Bauer scored her third goal of the season, with an assist by midfielder Angel Ikeda, which pushed the score to 2-0.
Wichita was able to slice the lead during extra time in the frame as Dora Gallo converted on a penalty kick that made the score 2-1.
The second half saw both squads play tight and the score remained at a one-goal differential at the 75:00 mark.
The Lions claimed their cushion of victory two minutes later as midfielder Hannah Friedrich claimed her team-leading fifth goal of the season via Larson’s feed.
The 3-1 result saw Niehaus claim her fifth win of the season between the pipes.
The upcoming weekend’s play at the Cottleville pitch is paramount for the Lions so a supportive crowd would be greatly appreciated.
For more information, go to their official website.
Story constructed with information provided by the St. Louis Lions WPSL.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
