Lindbergh Girls Soccer Bows to Ursuline 1-0 in Quarterfinals

OAKVILLE—Goalie Nina Tzianos did all she could Saturday morning to keep the Lindbergh girls soccer team in the game.

But in the end, it was an early goal by Ursuline Academy that stood as the Bears advanced to the Class 3 state semifinals with a 1-0 victory at Oakville High.

Lindbergh Coach Mark Giesing said the first two minutes of Saturday’s match were the most critical. The Flyers (20-7) took the kickoff and went right to the Ursuline zone. While they pressed the Bears' defense, the Flyers never got a shot off as the Bears cleared the ball.

That transitioned into a scoring opportunity less than a minute later, leading to Bridget Brotherton’s goal. “Two plays on either end maybe make the game,” Giesing said.

Thinking the ball was going to bounce up into her chest, Brotherton awkwardly deflected the cross pass from Bailey Colletta off the side of her leg and past Tzianos.

BOX SCORE:

Class 3 Quarterfinal: Ursuline 1, Lindbergh 0

SCORING:

Ursuline — Bridget Brotherton (Bailey Colletta) 1:53

STATISTICS:

• Shots: Ursuline 15, Lindbergh 2.
• Corner Kicks: Ursuline 5, Lindbergh 1.
• Fouls: Ursuline 6, Lindbergh 5.
• Saves: Ursuline (Mallory Yant) 2. Lindbergh (Nina Tzianos) 13.
• Records: Ursuline 16-4-1. Lindbergh 20-7.

The Flyers came out of a tough district this season and were the four seed behind Cor Jesu, Oakville and Rockwood Summit.

“It speaks to the strength of South County soccer,” Lindbergh's Giesing said. “In our district, any one of those teams could have been here. (Ursuline) had to do the exact same thing and came out of an even stronger district. You’ve got such a depth of talent in the south and west area here.

“It’s exciting to come out of a district that deep, as a four seed, and be able to play in a game of this caliber.”

“I’m a little biased, but I think she’s the strongest keeper in the St. Louis area,” Giesing said about goalie Trizano, a junior. “She put on a display out here that would give a lot of credit to that.

“But it also fell right into our game plan. We knew they were free shooters and we wanted to showcase her talent, but not allow any shots inside the 18. It may have been nerve-wracking from the stands, but we had total confidence in Nina.”

Lindbergh says farewell to four seniors—Rachel Greer, Jen Jung, Abby Rossi and Katie Eason—and Giesing said all four seniors are “great character kids.”

“It’s a hard-working team and I’ve been very proud of my girls all year,” Giesing said. “We came up a little short. We gave up the early goal, but we didn’t crumble. I was proud that we hung in there.”

Greer will take her talents to Truman State while Jung will play soccer at Maryville University. Giesing called Jung the best defensive player to ever play at Lindbergh.

“She has been a four-year phenomenon,” said Giesing, who added that Greer began her career as “an awkward freshman” and developed into a skilled and special player.

WHAT URSULINE SAID

“It’s crazy. I am so happy,” said Ursuline senior Bridget Brotherton, a South County resident who lives in the Lindbergh school district and scored the match’s only goal in the second minute.

“We knew we could get this far, but we knew it’d be hard. Our coach has been pushing us from the beginning, telling us we could get here. But it’s insane. I can’t believe we actually got here.”

Ursuline coach Ashlee Slayback had her hair in curlers during the match and rushed out immediately after because she was the maid of honor in a wedding in Jacksonville, Ill. She said her players “didn’t have their best game,” but still called the win phenomenal.

“It’s a great group that’s worked very hard,” Slayback said. “It’s a great opportunity ahead of them and they know what it takes. We know the final four is going to have some phenomenal teams and it’s going to have to be a great team effort.”

Playing in a conference as difficult as the MWAA White, Slayback said playing the likes of Nerinx Hall, St. Joseph’s, Cor Jesu and Incarnate Word has helped prepare Ursuline (16-4-1) for the postseason.

The Bears will play Incarnate next Friday night at 5 p.m. at the Soccer Park in Fenton as the Knights pounded Francis Howell North 4-0.

“It was great for us,” Brotherton said of the early goal. “We’ve had trouble scoring early. We get a lot of opportunities, but finally we put one in early and it was awesome for us.”

It was the fourth straight one-goal victory for the Bears and Brotherton said, “it’s not very fun, but it’s a win.”

The Bears had plenty of opportunities the rest of the match, but when shots didn’t go either wide or high, they fell into the hands of Tzianos.

“We knew she was good, very good,” Brotherton said. “We knew it was going to be hard to score, but we kept pounding on her and taking a lot of shots.”

After that first goal, Tzianos was up to the task with several diving saves as the Bears outshot the Flyers 15-2.

The Bears are led by eight seniors and junior Casey Chalupny, a Crestwood native and the younger sister of former Olympian and Athletica captain Lori Chalupny.

In the end, Giesing praised Ursuline’s depth of talent and said the Bears are a “very complete team.”

“We wish them well,” Giesing said. “They’ve got the physical ability to take this thing deep and maybe they will and win it all.”