Washington was hoping to crash the district championship girls soccer party that Rock Bridge and Jefferson City have enjoyed in recent years.
Heading into the Class 3 District 9 Tournament at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Jefferson City reached the district title contest five straight seasons while Rock Bridge got there three straight years.
Things didn’t quite work out for Washington as both Jefferson City and Rock Bridge kept their streaks alive.
Third-seeded Jefferson City (10-14) made a first-half goal hold up in a 1-0 victory over second-seeded Washington in the semifinals Tuesday night.
Top-seeded Rock Bridge (13-6) also won 1-0 Tuesday over fourth-seeded Hickman.
Rock Bridge won its fourth straight district crown with a 4-2 victory Thursday over Jefferson City.
Washington (12-14-1) had an opportunity to compete favorably in the district as the No. 2 seed, but couldn’t take advantage of its scoring opportunities.
“The Jefferson City game mirrored many of our games this year. We severely outplayed the other team, controlled the ball for the vast majority of the game and possessed the ball extremely well in the defensive and middle third of the field,” said Washington Head Coach Chris Lanemann. “But we were not able to finish. We hit the crossbar two times, had 13 shots on goal and only gave up three shots.”
Lanemann said because he felt Washington controlled the game, it was disappointing not to come away with the win.
“In that respect, it was very frustrating, especially when Jeff City was able to get the ball out of their own end just three times in the entire second half,” Lanemann said. “Our defense played great as they have all season. They have been so consistent all season.”
Andrea Bourne was Washington’s goalie.
“Andrea was in goal for the entire 80 minutes and only gave up the one goal on a missed assignment by a midfielder,” Lanemann said. “Andrea did not have a chance on the goal.”
After falling behind in the first half, the Lady Jays of Washington put constant pressure on Jefferson City in the second half in an attempt to pull even.
“So many players stepped up in the second half and played well,” Lanemann said.
Washington’s defenders led a solid team effort in the contest.
“All three of our defenders had very good games. They were Hannah Overschmidt, Brittany Monroig and Taylor Andrews,” Lanemann said. “In the midfield, all the girls played pretty well, led by Anneliese Baer, Liz Brinkmann, Brianna Pagan and Arika Elliott. Up top, we did pretty well moving the ball. We just didn’t score. Those girls were Halee Nurnberger, Salena Pottebaum and Martha Noelker.”
Washington has four seniors on the team who played in their final game. Those players are Overschmidt, Baer, Monroig and Bourne.
“As far as next year, I expect us to get better. For some of these girls, it will be their third year together on varsity. That should definitely help due to the familiarity that they will have for one another,” Lanemann said. “We will need players to step up and be leaders, replacing the four awesome seniors that we are losing. We will get back at it pretty quickly with our summer program and begin the process of improving for next year.”
