By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – For St. Charles, Thursday night’s District 8-III match with E.D. White ended in disappointment, with the Comets coming up just short of a share of a district championship.

The Cardinals emerged with a 2-1 victory after scoring twice within three minutes in the first half.

E.D. White (8-6-2, 4-0) scored in the 16th minute of play, then in the 18th minute to take a 2-0 lead.

“It was sort of like the first game,” said St. Charles coach Don Peyton, referring to SCC’s 3-1 loss to E.D. White a week earlier. “They scored twice within a short span in that game, then we see it again.

“It was a defensive breakdown, something we work on all week in practice. We didn’t execute, but it’s a problem we will fix. It happened twice – it won’t happen again.”

St. Charles (3-10-2, 2-2) answered via the foot of Laura Hane in the 37th minute of the first half, cutting the lead to 2-1.

But neither team would get on the board after halftime.

“They won the first half, and we won the second,” said Peyton. “But we just couldn’t push a score in there.”

Peyton is encouraged by the improvement his young team made over the course of a rebuilding season, noting especially the difference in his team’s play between the first and second games against the Cardinals, who entered the season as the favorites to win district.

“It’s a major sign of improvement,” said Peyton. “You’re disappointed for the seniors, true. But you look at the faces of those young kids after the game … they left it all on the field. They were mentally and physically drained. You can see they’re learning what it is to be an athlete.”

SCC will learn its playoff positioning on Tuesday.