Soccer

The Semoball Cup ended up being a battle of the Bulldogs that needed overtime to decide. Megan Heisserer's golden goal to lift Notre Dame to the Class 2 soccer title also happened to clinch the Cup. In the closest finish in the early history of the award, Notre Dame edged Van Buren by 4.79 points in the standings that determine which area school had the most athletically successful school year...

From across Southeast Missouri, people descended upon Cape Girardeau on Saturday night for the region's premier sports awards show. More than 150 student-athletes from 57 area high schools were on hand for the Fourth Annual Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH at the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall on Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus, as awards were handed out in 25 sports categories...

Welcome back for Episode 16 of the Semoball Podcast. We are a week and a half away from the 2017 Semoball Awards at the Southeast Missouri State River Campus, so podcast host and Southeast Missourian sports editor Josh Mlot caught up with two of the finalists set to be honored at the event...

When you're a sophomore in high school, it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. But Notre Dame girls soccer player Megan Heisserer is already growing her own section of the woods. Just two years into her high school career, it's not a stretch to call Heisserer the best attacking player the program has ever seen. At least the most prolific. Barring unforeseen circumstances, by the time she graduates there will be no doubt about her seat upon that throne...

Jersey number: 2 Primary position: Center mid and forward After-graduation plans: Attending Arkansas State University in the fall and majoring in psychology to work toward a masters in behavioral therapy Twitter handle: @callihouse5 Favorite warmup song: "Lose Yourself" by Eminem...

This spring, three area high school teams won state championships. With the success came accolades. Numerous local student-athletes earned recognition, including all-state honors. On the baseball diamond, Bell City won its third straight Class 1 state championship. Along the way, five Cubs earned all-state distinctions...

When Lauren Welker made the commitment to pursue soccer at the club level in St. Louis, she made the commitment to many hours in the car. For a while that included her parents. Now that she's old enough to drive, she gets behind the wheel herself. But regardless of who is driving, she's often had a friendly face to make the road trips less tedious -- fellow Jackson student-athlete Mikala Liley...

Lauren Welker has done a lot of things in her three years playing girls soccer for Jackson. Just this spring she scored 34 goals to help lead the Indians to a second district title in her three seasons in high school. As a result she earned all-conference, all-district, all-region -- she was the All-Region Co-Player of the Year -- and all-state recognition, and was recently announced as a Semoball Awards Girls Soccer Player of the Year finalist...

Ten months after the high school sports calendar began, we now know all 148 of our on-field nominees for the 2017 Semoball Awards. On Friday, the spring sport finalists for baseball, softball, girls soccer, boys and girls track and field, golf and boys tennis for the event -- to be held Saturday, July 8, at the Bedell Performance Center at Southeast Missouri State's River Campus -- were announced as part of a live selection show on SEMO ESPN Radio...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- On the sideline, Notre Dame girls soccer coach Ryan Schweain was holding his breath. On the field, there was no breath left to hold. But exhausted after 90 minutes in the heat and on the biggest stage, sophomore Megan Heisserer offered up one gigantic exhale...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- On the morning of the Class 1 state championship, St. Vincent girls soccer coach Caitlin Pistorio had a decision to make about how she was going to set the tone for her team. The decision she came to was an unorthodox one -- she told her team not to worry about getting scored on...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Championships are won in many moments. Often little ones. Sometimes big ones. For Notre Dame in Thursday's 2-1 extra-time win over Springfield Catholic in the Class 2 girls soccer state championship game in Kansas City, Missouri, it was both...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As just a sophomore, Megan Heisserer is already a handful of strikes away from setting Notre Dame’s career scoring mark. But on Wednesday it was about her creating for others. Heisserer picked up two assists as the Bulldogs did what no one else has been able to do for half a decade, polishing off four-time defending state champion Duchesne 2-0 in a Class 2 girls soccer semifinal at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The wash of relief that swept over the St. Vincent girls soccer team took all words with it. After 79 minutes, 42 seconds of frustration and hand wringing, the final 18 seconds were speechless ones. On the 13th and final shot off the 10th and final corner kick in the 80th and final minute, Kalli Seabaugh found her way on to a bouncing ball in the 18-yard box and smacked a shot into the back of the net, exorcising an afternoon’s worth of frustrations and sending St. ...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- St. Vincent girls soccer coach Caitlin Pistorio wracks her brain trying to come up with interesting tidbits about her program's season; any tantalizing tales that colored the 2017 season. In the end, she's left with little, because this season has been dramatically drama-free for the Indians...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Separated by 36 miles off the field and a classification on it, when the St. Vincent and Notre Dame girls soccer teams arrive in Kansas City this week for the Class 1 and 2 state championships, respectively, the two groups will, nonetheless, be decidedly linked...

The frustration was palpable as the Notre Dame girls soccer team walked off the field. The date was May 21, 2016, and the Bulldogs had just allowed three goals -- two in the second half -- to Notre Dame (St. Louis) in a 3-2 loss in a Class 2 sectional, watching a lead disappear...

We chat with athletes from each of the four state-bound teams this week.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Every time the ball hit the back of the net in the second half, the realization sank in a little more. The St. Vincent girls soccer team turned a close game at halftime into a rollicking, decisive victory in the second half, as it rolled past Maplewood-Richmond Heights 5-0 in a Class 1 quarterfinal on Wednesday at Perryville City Park and into the final four...

ST. LOUIS -- The pickle juice will go to Kansas City. Even if it didn't make it to St. Louis. The Notre Dame girls soccer team beat Rosati-Kain 3-1 in penalty kicks in a Class 2 quarterfinal Wednesday at St. Mary's High School. The match was tied at 1-1 after regulation and two 15-minute overtime periods...

The Jackson girls soccer program's continued search for a Class 4 sectional win will have to wait at least another year. Looking for their first sectional victory since 2003, the Indians let a halftime lead get away as state-ranked Eureka dominated the second half and handed Jackson a 4-1 defeat on Tuesday at Jackson Junior High School...

Midway through the first half, Cape Central forward Mattie Huff picked up the ball near midfield with the Hillsboro defense in front of her. Faced with that unappealing situation, Huff turned it into a goal with a stellar solo effort, dribbling past several defenders and then slotting the ball past the goalkeeper...

The Notre Dame girls soccer team knew what it was like to hold a halftime lead in a sectional and go home broken hearted. On Saturday it made sure to leave that feeling in the past. A year after succumbing to a second-half rally on the road, the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead into halftime and then held on for a 3-2 win over Lutheran South in a Class 2 sectional at Harry L. Crisp Field at Notre Dame Regional High School...

As the final seconds wore down, the St. Vincent girls soccer team linked arms on the sideline and anxiously eyed the clock. Who could blame the Indians? They'd been waiting for this moment for years. When the final horn sounded, St. Vincent enjoyed every moment of it, celebrating a 4-0 win over rival Saxony Lutheran in the Class 1 District 1 championship Friday at Notre Dame Regional High School...

Jackson girls soccer coach Justin McMullen admitted recapturing the Class 4 District 1 championship Thursday felt a little sweeter after last year's heartbreaking loss in the district title game. Lauren Welker scored a goal midway through the second half on an assist from Natalie Miller, and goalkeeper Sam Schnicker made five saves as the No. 2 Indians defeated host Seckman 1-0 in Imperial, Missouri. The Jaguars were the top seed and had defeated Jackson earlier this season...

The Notre Dame boys volleyball team dropped a 2-1 decision in a thriller against Living Word Christian in a Class 3 District 4 semifinal Thursday in O'Fallon, Missouri. The Bulldogs won the first set 25-23 before falling in back-to-back sets 25-22, 25-20...

Sometimes all it takes to change a game is one moment; one shot. Sometimes that happens to be the first one. Emma Brune scored on the game's opening shot in the fifth minute, sending a cracking strike into the far top-right corner of the goal from about 20 yards out, and third-seeded Saxony Lutheran girls soccer rolled to a 4-0 win over second-seeded Kelly in a Class 1 District 1 semifinal on Wednesday night at Notre Dame Regional High School...

With a district title on the line, the Notre Dame girls soccer team relied on the things it knows best -- Megan Heisserer's ability to put the ball in the net and a defense that rarely lets opponents do the same. Heisserer scored one goal in each half to notch a brace for the Bulldogs, whose rock-steady back line didn't budge in a 2-0 victory over St. Pius X to claim a second straight Class 2 District 1 championship on Tuesday night at Harry L. Crisp Field at Notre Dame Regional High School...

If there are two girls soccer teams that know what it's like to be young and inexperienced this season, it's Perryville and Saxony Lutheran. Both sides have faced challenges associated with new faces and a steady learning curve, but on Tuesday it was the Crusaders who prevailed in a head-to-head matchup, getting an early second-half goal from Laurel Mueller -- one of the few veterans on the field -- to slip by the Pirates 2-1 at Saxony Lutheran High School...

Braden Cox had an all-around stellar day on the field, blasting a three-run home run and throwing all but the last three pitches on the mound, to lead the Scott City baseball team to a 9-2 victory over East Prairie on Monday and clinch the regular-season Scott-Mississippi Conference championship in Scott City, Missouri...

Emma Brune scored a pair of goals to lead the Saxony Lutheran girls soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Cape Central in SEMO Conference action Wednesday at Central High School. Makayla Mueller and Laurel Mueller each had an assist for the Crusaders. Ashley Fritsche earned the shutout in the net for Saxony (7-11, 3-3 SEMO Conference)...

Jonathan Bell and D.J. Lynch each carded a 10-over-par 81 as the Notre Dame boys golf team won the Class 3 District 1 tournament championship for the second year in a row on Tuesday at the Fox Haven Country Club in Sikeston, Mo. The Bulldogs all finished below 90 as the defending district champions edged Farmington by five strokes in the team standings to come away with the district championship. Nicholas Westrich shot a one-over-par 82 to earn the medalist honors for the Knights...

On a day full of close girls soccer action at the Notre Dame Showcase, the headliner came first. In an anticipated east-west battle between two of Class 2's best this season, according to the Missouri State High School Soccer Coaches Association poll, No. 2 Springfield Catholic got the momentary breakthrough it needed to hand No. 3 Notre Dame its first loss of the season, 1-0, on Saturday at Houck Stadium...

Elijah Huey had the game-winning RBI single as seventh-seeded Cape Central baseball upset No. 2 Jackson 3-2 in eight innings Friday in the first round of the SEMO Conference Tournament at Whitey Herzog Stadium. Joe Baker went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Tigers (5-11) and got the save as he pitched a scoreless eighth. Drake Mills picked up the win as he gave up two runs (one earned), seven hits and two walks in seven innings. He also struck out two...

The St. Vincent girls soccer team will be pretty happy with the way the past week has gone. First a decisive victory over district thorn-in-the-side Saxony Lutheran, then a competitive game against Class 4 Jackson before the Indians wrapped things up with a 2-2 draw Saturday against Class 2 No. 2-ranked Springfield Catholic in the Notre Dame Showcase at Houck Stadium...

Layne Johnson held the Bulldogs to six hits on the mound, as the Oran baseball team knocked off Sikeston 10-2 on Thursday in Sikeston, Missouri. Johnson threw 6 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs, striking out seven batters and walking two. Drew Reischman secured the final out for the Eagles...

While Jackson girls soccer coach Justin McMullen admitted he had last year's district final on the mind coming into Thursday's rematch with Northwest (Cedar Hill), the message to his team focused on the present. His players responded with a 3-1 win over the Lions on Senior Night at Jackson Junior High School...