It’s Coach Ben Timson’s turn to check in with Springfield Soccer readers and offer his summary of the fine season the Catholic Fightin’ Irish had, reaching the Final 8 yet again this year.
Even though we lost a tough quarterfinal battle to Timberland I was very proud of the heart the girls showed not only in the final game, but throughout the season. We opened the year with three hard fought one goal road losses, at Warrensburg, Joplin, and Kickapoo in our first five games, but the girls battled through it and came together in the Kickapoo Shootout with great wins over Gibault and St. Louis Notre Dame before losing to Visitation Academy in the White Division Championship game. Following the Shootout we were fortunate enough to get wins over Glendale and Ozark, two excellent teams. The injury bug hit us in the Jefferson City Tournament, however, as Tara Bailes and Anna DeLong were sidelined with concussions and we were defeated by Park Hill South and Helias. The girls played extremely well between the two defeats and were able to avenge our early season loss against Joplin.
I would like to thank all the players for the effort they put forth to make this season a success. The senior class (Alli Bailes, Catherine DiSarno, and Jordan Swift) leaves SCHS with a remarkable four year record of 80-27-1, four district championships, four appearances in the Class 1 Quarterfinals, one Class 1 State 3rd place finish, and one appearance in the Class 1 State Championship game. I offer them my sincere congratulations on their success both in the classroom and on the soccer field and wish them well as they head off to college in the fall. The juniors (Elle Holtman, Sarah Martin, Christina Ogden, Kathryn Orr, Hannah Renner, Alicia Tonjuk, Courtney Whittaker), sophomores (Tara Bailes, Alli Musgrave, Anne Prenger), and freshmen (Laura Buehler, Anna DeLong, Kathleen Garrison, Emily Kessler, Maddie Renner, Natalie Van Pelt) all made great contributions to the team this year and I look forward to their return next season.
Special thanks goes to the parents of the girls who have always been so supportive of the program. This year they went “above and beyond the call of duty†when they raised the money necessary to light the field. I would also like to thank the administration at SCHS for all they do for the soccer program and assistant coaches Jeanne Skahan, George Marino, and Jackie Hood for the invaluable help they provided me this year.
I am honored to be a part of this program.
Coach Timson also offered this – First I would like to thank you, Ole, for your coverage of Springfield Soccer and the opportunity to provide a summary of our season – but I used my editorial perogative to move it down here to ensure we were focusing on the players first and formost. I appreciate the sentiment, because except for a couple of trolls who are fond of leaving derisive remarks via my comment page, usually anonomyous of course, I get plenty of positive feedback and it’s what keeps me coming back.
I’m sorry to say that Coach Timson will not be able to join us on June 22nd for the Southwest Soccer All-Stars game. He was invited to work the sidelines because of the performance of his squad but a family wedding in FL that same week seems to be taking precedence. Darn.
I’ll close by reiterating my earlier statement about this squad – they were consistently the most entertaining squad I got to watch this season. Congratulations ladies, and thank you!
