By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — After closing out district play, St. Charles celebrated their veteran players on Wednesday’s Senior Night, honoring them in a fitting way with a 2-1 victory over visiting Lusher.

“Being here for three years and knowing this was my last game here, my last chance to walk off of our field after a game, it was special for me,” said Comets’ senior Laura Hane, who scored SCC’s first goal of the night. “It’s sad for me to know that I’ll never play with these girls again (after this season), but we had some very good memories.”

It took St. Charles some time to break through offensively despite generating some chances; the Comets were whistled twice for offsides in the first seven minutes; 20 minutes in, Karlie Englade’s shot hit the crossbar and went over the goal; in the next five minutes, Jalynn Johnson saw a pair of potential goals denied.

SCC did its share of the same defensively to Lusher. A free kick by the Lions’ Emma Clements was stopped by SCC senior goalkeeper Shelby Schneider with 11 minutes left; two minutes later, she made a save on a shot by Gabby Donofrio.

That set the stage for Hane to put SCC ahead 1-0, as she broke loose and shot in close past the goalkeeper, who had come out to contest; the ball rolled to rest in the middle of the net and give SCC a lead.

“I heard everyone behind me once I broke free, and I knew I had to shoot on my last touch,” said Hane. “It was good to know we had a goal, but we’ve had a few games like the first Riverside game where we got ahead and let it go. We made sure to let everyone know that we had to keep playing like it was 0-0.”

With 2:25 left before half, SCC’s Hannah Guidry prevented a potential goal, clearing a ball out of the box. SCC took its 1-0 advantage into halftime.

The rain and wind picked up after halftime, but the teams seemed relatively unaffected. With 28 minutes left, Lusher tied the game on a long range shot from Rachel Blackstone that came in high and over Schneider’s reach.

But with 21 minutes left, Johnson secured what would be the game-winner, leaking out ahead of the defense and putting in an open shot with relative ease to make it 2-1.

“You almost hate to say it now because we’re at the end of the season, but we’re finally starting play good team ball” said St. Charles coach Don Peyton. “They’ve played good team ball for two games in a row, now. They’re playing together … We hadn’t really put a full game together until recently, but the girls seem to realize now what it takes to make a run.”