NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Edwardsville girls soccer team headed up to North Central College to partake in the girls soccer state tournament for the first time ever Friday evening.
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The Tigers went up there and took on a team that had been around the block a few times.
It was the 13th trip to state for the New Trier Trevians, who have won six state titles, including a three-peat from 2014-16. It will be their 10th time playing in a championship game where they’ll take on St. Charles North at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Edwardsville will play Palatine Fremd in the third-place game at 11:45 a.m.
The two teams were evenly matched for the first 40 minutes and were in a scoreless tie at halftime.
New Trier broke the tie in the 53rd minute when Edwardsville couldn’t clear the ball from within its own six-yard box. Tigers’ keeper Jenny Burroughs did her best to nearly make a goal-line save, but the ball had already crossed the line to give the Trevians the 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, things went from bad to worse for the Tigers.
Basie Shannon rose up and headed home a corner kick from Sybil Evans in the 56th minute to double the lead.
The Tigers did have some fight left in them and cut the lead in half in the 62nd minute when Kylie Peel let one go from right inside the 18-yard box that rocketed past New Trier goalkeeper Annie Fowler.
Edwardsville fought to try and tie the game and force overtime, and it seemed like they did in the dying seconds.
After a mad scramble in front of the net, the ball bounced to Ellie Neath whose shot hit the crossbar and somehow stayed out. It was a chaotic ending, but the Tigers would fall in their first state series game.
Peel’s goal was just the fifth goal all season that New Trier had allowed. A stingy defense held strong in the second half to secure the win and improve to 25-2-4 on the season.
Edwardsville falls to 17-4-1.
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