Orchard Farm Girls Soccer Overpowers O’Fallon Christian

The first half of the soccer season has been a decidedly different story for the Orchard Farm High and O’Fallon Christian High girls soccer teams.

Orchard Farm has won all seven games its played thus far, while reaching the No. 8 spot in this week’s area soccer rankings.

O’Fallon Christian has lost four in a row in increasingly maddening fashion, after winning its first two contests.

The two teams met on Wednesday, in what proved to be an emotionally charged and physical matchup. Orchard Farm claimed a 4-2 win over visiting O’Fallon Christian.

“We played just well enough (to win),” Orchard Farm head coach Brandon Cox said. “We played a hundred minutes last night against Affton, and we didn’t get back (to school) until about 10 o’clock. So I knew we we’re tired. But we’re doing well so far.”

Some might say Orchard Farm is doing better than well. Wednesday’s victory means Orchard Farm will remain one of only three unbeaten small school teams in the area.

Second-ranked St. Charles West and sixth-ranked St. Pius X are the others.

“Everybody’s really contributing,” Cox said. “Most of our goals are coming through Brooke Burckhardt and Alexis Robbers. But it’s because everybody else around them is doing so well that they’re getting free. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it can continue.”

In Wednesday’s first half it was O’Fallon Christian that really dominated, despite playing a smaller lineup made up mostly of underclassmen.

And after both teams traded scoring chances early in the match, it was O’Fallon Christian's junior Davah Bruce who netted her sixth goal of the season, on a brilliant restart kick from the left side from about 30 yards out.

“I was really mad right then, because the girl on the other team fouled me really hard,” Bruce said. “I didn’t even wait to see how they set up. I just said, ‘I’m gonna kick it in the net,’ and let it go. And it went in.”

Just before halftime, Orchard Farm senior Andrea Liston drilled a perfect corner kick pass to the front of O’Fallon Christian’s net, where Robbers was able to head one in to tie the score.

Losing the lead just before halftime seemed to deflate O’Fallon Christian, and Orchard Farm took advantage early in the second half.

Robbers got her second goal of the night, an area-best 15th of the season, after a breakaway pass from teammate Megan Boschert just minutes into the second half.

“Alexis is an excellent, excellent ballplayer,” Cox said. “She has a real grasp of where the ball is going to be. She anticipates things very well. So it puts her always in the right place at the right time.”

A little while later, it was Boschert who found herself in the right place at the right time.

The 5-foot-6-inch sophomore moved forward just in time to head another sensational corner kick pass into the back of the O’Fallon Christian net, for her first goal of the season, to make the score 3-1.

Then on the restart, Robbers stole a pass, then fired a beautiful pass of her own, to set up freshman Carley Swisher for her third goal of the season, to make the score 4-1.

“She’s always floating where the ball is,” Cox said. “It’s like…‘Oh no, oh wait, there’s Alexis.’ She was one of the one’s complaining about being tired today. But she still had an edge, and she played great.”

O’Fallon Christian did get one goal back, when freshman Gabby Andrews netted her first varsity goal, on a ball Orchard Farm goalkeeper Abby Gruendler seemed sure to stop, but somehow let slip through her hands and into the back of the net.

“I couldn’t believe that,” Bruce said. “I was like… ‘Wow, nutmeg!’”

O’Fallon Christian (2-5) will play one more game this week, before getting a much-needed week off from games. O'Fallon Christian will host John Burroughs High at 4:15 p.m. today.

Orchard Farm (8-0) gets the rest of this week off, but will return to action Tuesday when the team plays at Barat Academy. Kickoff that day is also 4:15 p.m.

“We’ve got a really tough part of our schedule coming up,” Cox said. “We’ve got some really big games coming, and that’ll be a big measuring stick for us.”