By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — East St. John’s girls soccer team captured its first win of the season Friday, and did it at just the right time.

The Ladycats downed John Ehret, 2-1, in a double overtime district opener behind a pair of goals from senior Nyanza Bell.

Bell scored a goal in the first half before Ehret tied things up in the second. The game-winner came with just 30 seconds left, with the match on the verge of going to penalty kicks to decide things.

“I told the girls that we need to look at this like a new season,” said East St. John coach Joe Perrilloux. “This is district. What happens now will determine where we go. How we started won’t matter if we take care of business here.”

Bell missed the early part of the season but returned to the lineup two weeks ago.

Perrilloux said that she is still getting back into the flow of things, and praised her perseverance in the win.

“She was tired. She never came out of the game,” said Perrilloux. “She missed a bunch of shots … she’s still getting her accuracy back. But Nyanza played well. She kept going.”

The entire team pushed through for that matter, something Perrilloux said showed maturity from the season’s beginning.

“I don’t think we’d have won this match if we played it a few weeks back,” he said. “They might have gotten down on themselves or given up earlier in the season, but they just kept playing. That’s what we need to do. No matter what happens, just keep playing.”

The Wildcats (1-9) were scheduled to return to action Tuesday, after press time, in a home match against Higgins.

Then, Friday, the team will face Destrehan in a game Perrilloux sees as a major test. That will be a rematch of last season’s district finale that saw East St. John beat Destrehan in overtime on penalty kicks, pushing ESJ into the postseason.

“I think we’ll do well in district play,” said Perrilloux. “But Friday will be a good way to see where we are.”