Comets split two this week

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 9, 2011

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — St. Charles split a pair of non-district soccer matches this week, as the Lady Comets topped Academy of Our Lady Wednesday, 4-1, then fell to former district foe E.D. White, 4-2.

St. Charles trailed 1-0 at halftime on a windy night against AOL, but bounced back in the second half to score four goals.

Jalynn Johnson tied the game up with a goal in the 45th minute of play. Then Shelby Schneider all but pushed things out of reach, scoring goals in the 55th and 58th minutes to make it 3-1. Laura Hane capped things off in minute 63 with one final score.

St. Charles coach Don Peyton said that the heavy wind was a factor — both positive and negative — for each team at the offense and defensive ends, respectively.

“When you go one way and kick a ball 30 yards and it blows back 20, then it’s tough to score,” he said. “But at the other end, it allowed us to be more aggressive. We were able to press with so many and we created opportunities for ourselves.”

Johnson and Hane each scored goals in the second half of the Comets’ loss to E.D. White, a game that the Cardinals led 4-0 after the first half.

“The good thing was, we won the second half,” said Peyton. “It was a different game in each half. But in the first, we had a couple of mental mistakes. And when it rains, it pours … you make one mistake, then another, and then another. Everything went downhill.

“You can always correct the mental errors. But they’re tough to overcome when they occur.”

Peyton did say his team played as a cohesive unit in the second half, something he believes will serve his senior-laden team well going forward.

St. Charles stands at 3-6-1, its tie coming in a match with undefeated Ursuline at the Dominican tournament.

SCC has played a difficult schedule thus far, but Peyton has been pleased with how his team has responded — and the efficiency its offense has operated at. It’s as deep a unit, he said, as he’s had.

“We’ve probably scored more in the first 10 games than we have in the last four or five years,” he said. “All three of our forwards are scoring (Johnson, Hane and Kaitlyn Lemoine), and that’s new for us. We’ve been top-heavy before.

“In the back end, Shelby’s been strong in the goal and Allie Ceja’s done a real good job defensively. We’ve got nine seniors on this team who have been together for the last three or four years, and really they’re all stepping up.”