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Ties that bind area girls soccer teams also drive success
On Thursday, the St. Vincent girls soccer team won a second consecutive state championship, making it four straight years in which a local team has won the Class 1 title -- two by Saxony Lutheran followed by two by the Indians.
Meanwhile, in Class 2, 2017 champion Notre Dame played for the top prize again, but suffered late heartbreak in the title game.
Today, Jackson will make its first appearance in the Class 4 final four.
St. Louis has long been a bastion of elite soccer talent in the state of Missouri and Kansas City programs have found plenty of success, but the recent trend indicates Southeast Missouri has developed its own girls soccer presence.
While there are multiple reasons for this, one particular thread weaves through the players who have been trekking to Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri, the past few years: Southeast Missouri Soccer Club.
Developed and run by Paul and Heather Nelson -- assistant and head coach, respectively, at Southeast Missouri State -- SMSC has linked dozens of girls who have lifted trophies for the aforementioned programs.
Look across the rosters and you'll find friends and former teammates at every turn cheering each other on after growing up playing the game together with SMSC youth teams.
Jackson senior Lauren Welker not only developed relationships with fellow Indians senior Grace Pehle and coach Justin McMullen playing for SMSC, but also with many of the players at St. Vincent and Notre Dame.
Last year, she had to sit back and watch her friends lift titles; this year she gets to join them in the hunt.
"I've actually been talking to a couple of them -- 'Good luck' -- and talked to them about their experience up there," Welker said. "It's really cool because we all played club together and, just like with Grace, I've been best friends with a lot of Notre Dame and St. Vincent girls since we were really little. It's just awesome for us to go up there too ... It's cool to do it together."
Welker moved on to test herself at the club level in St. Louis with the Lou Fusz program and then St. Louis Scott Gallagher in the Elite Clubs National League, but her friendships with those seniors at St. Vincent and Notre Dame remain.
Zoe Pleimann, Shelby Bauwens, Lauren Boswell, Blake Sparkman, Alaina Baumgart and Hannah Landewe are all part of that group for the Bulldogs, while the Indians' Corin Carroll, Jenna Winkler, Abby Buchheit, Kaiti Schnurbusch and Courtney Brewer are also SMSC products.
Carroll, Winkler, Buccheit and Schnurbusch all scored this week in Kansas City, and Brewer backstopped a championship clean sheet.
Megan Heisserer, a younger SMSC player, got Notre Dame's semifinal game-winning goal.
McMullen coached within the SMSC system for 17 years before stepping away last year. He doesn't hesitate to explain why this year's Jackson team was able to do something no other Indians squad has.
"We had just about every one of our players play in the offseason this year, and that's a big difference," the coach said.
In his mind, the recent success for area high schools is inextricably linked to SMSC.
"We had some things going early on but you get someone like Paul and Heather Nelson, with their background in soccer -- both of them being involved in the Canadian national team and coaching at Florida State, a big Division I program -- with that wealth of knowledge, our area, as you can see, (has) the success of St. Vincent, Saxony, Notre Dame, us as well, Cape Central winning a district championship. They directly impact those players in some fashion."
And the last week in May turns into one big reunion in Kansas City.