Semoball

Perryville’s underclassmen shine, Pirates top St. Clair 6-0 to advance to district finals

Perryville's Alyssa King, left, dribbles past a defender in the Pirates' 6-0 win over St. Clair in Tuesday's Class 2 District 1 semifinal at The Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex in Perryville. King scored two goals in the Pirates' victory.
J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semoball.com

PERRYVILLE ­— Perryville’s underclassmen stole the show Tuesday night, scoring five of the Pirates’ six goals in a 6-0 win over St. Clair to advance to the Class 2 District 1 finals.

Perryville wasted very little time with sophomore Alyssa King scoring the Pirates’ first goal just over five minutes into the game.

“I’m not always the most confident in scoring because I don’t always score the most,” King said. “I guess it really just gave me the confidence for the rest of the game. It set the tone and made everyone excited.”

With 27:47 remaining in the first half, freshman Carlie Holdman found the back of the net. Then, seven minutes later, King scored again to give the Pirates a 3-0 advantage they would take into the half.

“Everybody’s important on this team,” King said. “It makes me excited for the underclassmen to be showing that much because it gives me excitement for the years to come.”

Perryville came out hot after halftime, netting two goals from freshman Ashlynd Yamnitz less than two minutes into the half.

“Nobody played last year, so the underclassmen that can come in and help out like that is huge,” Pirates coach Jerry Fulton said. “No freshmen played last year, so they’re all freshmen this year. I asked the girls, ‘Can any one class do this by themselves?’ and the answer is no.”

One of Perryville’s leading scorers, senior Leah Buerck, had trouble finding the net during Tuesday’s matchup until she finally scored with 12:22 left in the game.

“It was definitely aggravating at first, just watching none of them go in,” Buerck said. “But once I got the one, the weight was finally lifted off my shoulders. Now, I’m just ready for tomorrow.”

Perryville's Leah Buerck, right, battles for the ball with St. Clair's Ally Newton in Tuesday's Class 2 District 1 semifinal at The Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex in Perryville. Buerck scored a goal in the Pirates' 6-0 victory.
J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semoball.com

Fulton gave praise to the team as a whole but also acknowledged the importance of Buerck to the squad.

“She’s been huge for the whole program the whole time she’s been here,” Fulton said. “We had five goals before Leah could put one in the net. When this team can score four or five goals without Leah scoring one, we’re pretty dang good.”

The Pirates (16-4-2) will play North County at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex for the Class 2 District 1 championship. The Raiders (14-7) topped Fredericktown (9-10-1) Tuesday to advance.

“I’m thrilled to be able to go to the championship with this team,” Buerck said. “I think we have a good shot tomorrow as long as we come out and play together.”

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