SCC Women’s Soccer grabs back-to-back wins

Published: 10/07/2016

St. Charles Community College’s Women’s Soccer needed a crucial win against Region XVI foe Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods on Oct. 4 to move into second seed in the region.

The season’s first faceoff between Maple Woods and SCC ended short, only 22 minutes into the game, due to lightning. Despite being up 1-0, NJCAA rules require rescheduling and a complete restart of the game.

Tuesday brought perfect soccer weather – 80 degrees and sunshine. SCC started very sluggish the first half, only garnering five shots and struggling to maintain possession. Eleven minutes into the game, Maple Woods took advantage of a communication breakdown in SCC’s backline and beat Sam Garvilla, SCC keeper, for the first goal of the game.

“Our first half was rough,” said Jason Wyland, SCC Women’s Soccer assistant coach. “We are finding a common theme – we are controlling much of the game, just not able to do much with the ball. It is an issue we must fix as a team before we head into postseason play.”

The second half belonged to SCC and Syndney Gentry, freshman forward. Gentry found the back of the net three times for a hat trick. Deja Lunderg assisted her twice and Karly Leach grabbed the other assist. Gentry also picked up an assist feeding Lauren Schmickely, who earned her third goal of the year. 

“It was a total team effort,” Gentry said. “I was just happy to be able to put the ball away and have some great balls played to me. I was really proud of the girls for stepping up during the second half.”

Garvilla picked up seven saves in route to her sixth win of the year.

The Cougars traveled to St. Louis Community College on Oct. 7 to grab their third win in a row, defeating their cross-town rivals 2-0.  

“We knew that St. Louis would come out right away and be ready to play,” said Kelly Braudis, SCC sophomore. “It is a natural rivalry. Same town, same region. There is a lot of pride on the line.”

SCC put up 19 shots, seven of which were on goal, while limiting St. Louis to three shots on goal. Despite the barrage, the St. Louis keeper kept the Cougars at bay, heading into halftime with a scoreless tie. Nine minutes into the first half, SCC’s Kelly Braudis settled a ball out of the air and found Kayle Collie who played a perfect ball to Gentry, grabbing her team-leading and Region XVI-leading ninth goal of the year.

Gentry, who started the year slow, only netting three goals in eight games, has found her groove by scoring six goals in five games, said Josh Tyler, SCC Women’s Soccer head coach. She has been a force to be reckoned with the past five games – taking 25 shots, 17 of which were on goal, grabbed one assist and drew six corners.

“I felt like I wasn’t doing my job, and knew I needed to keep working to put myself in the right position to score,” Gentry said. “I am just happy to help the team keep finding wins. My job is to score, and I need to do anything I can for the team to keep that going.”

With 20 minutes left in the game, Deja grabbed her team-leading fifth assist when she found Kristen White’s feet, who found the bottom-left corner of the goal past an outstretched St. Louis keeper for her second goal of the year.

Garvilla grabbed three saves in the Cougars net and picked up her third shut out.

SCC had a few more chances, but they were not able to put any away, Coach Tyler said. The Cougars’ win guarantees SCC will be at least the No. 2 seed heading into the regional tournament Oct. 28-29, in Kansas City.

“I have been very happy with our play the past few weeks,” Coach Tyler said. “We have really found our groove and seem to be peaking at the right time. We have been playing some really good soccer. Our schedule is packed at the end. We will be playing seven games in 15 days, so we picked a great time to play well.”

SCC will welcome Lincoln College on Saturday. The following week, SCC travels Belleville to play a very tough Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) team. Thursday, the Cougars will welcome 19^th- ranked Indian Hills.

For more information about SCC Women’s Soccer, visit stchas.edu/student-life/athletics/teams/womens-soccer/ or contact Coach Tyler at jtyler@stchas.edu.

St. Charles Community College is a public, comprehensive two-year community college with associate degrees and certificate programs in the arts, business, sciences and career-technical fields. SCC provides workforce training and community-based personal and professional development as well as cultural, recreational and entertainment opportunities. For more information, visit stchas.edu.

Season Stat Leaders Goals

Sydney Gentry: 9 Deja Lundberg: 4

Lauren Schmickley: 3

Assists

Deja Lundberg: 5

Lauren Schmickley: 4

Miranda Clamors, Sydney Gentry: 3