ST. CHARLES - It didn't take the St. Charles High girls soccer team long to begin plotting its revenge.
Less than 10 minutes after dropping a 3-1 decision to Trinity Catholic in a non-league affair Wednesday night, the Pirates started looking ahead to a rematch, which will likely come May 18 in the championship game of the Class 2 District 6 Tournament at St. Charles.
"We want to show them that we're better than we played tonight," said St. Charles sophomore Abby Wootten.
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Added senior Jordan Trautmann, who scored the Pirates' lone goal.
"That team is beatable. We can do this."
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The St. Charles loss was a hiccup in what has been an impressive campaign. Coach Rodney Orrick's team had won six in a row and nine of its previous 10 matches entering Wednesday's contest. The Pirates (9-5) are 9-2 following a difficult 0-3 start.
Orrick was hoping his club could make a statement against the tradition-rich Titans, who improved to 9-3. Instead, the Pirates came out flat and never recovered.
Trinity junior Alexis Jackson scored on a breakaway just 3:28 into the match. Caroline Keppler added a goal right before the halftime break and Maria Peters scored in the first two minutes of the second half to push the lead to 3-0.
The Pirates charged back on Trautmann's third goal of the season with just over nine minutes remaining, but could get no closer.
Trautmann converted on a perfect corner kick on the left side by Wootten.
"We looked at this as an opportunity to step up and I'm a little disappointed," said Orrick. "But the good thing is that we're going to play them again. If you're going to win one of the two, you obviously want to win the second one. Hopefully, we'll make some adjustments and play better the next time."
The Pirates had outscored the opposition 40-2 during the six-game winning streak. They were coming off one of the best efforts of the season on Tuesday - a 6-0 win over
Junior Erika Teson scored four goals in that win. Sophomore Autumn Olendorff added two goals. The pair have scored 16 goals each this season to lead a balanced attack.
The jump that was so prevalent in the win over McCluer North was missing on Wednesday.
"It was like every one was off," said Trautmann. "The first five minutes, no one was on their toes. We just got off on a bad foot."
Orrick said his club was simply outplayed.
"It was not one of our better games, but hats off to them," he said. "The better team won."
The Pirates played their best over the final 20 minutes against Trinity. They had four legitimate scoring chances before Trautmann finally found the back of the net.
Orrick and his players are hoping the late spurt will help when the teams meet in post-season play.
"Now, we have an idea of how to beat them," said Wootten. "We know we have to step up and we're pretty sure we can do it."
The Pirates remain one of the hottest teams in the Gateway Athletic Conference. Oldendorff, Wootten and Teson lead the attack. Junior keeper Taylor Wolf has been solid in goal with help from defenders Lydia Haake, Emily White, Emily Wilson and Kara Benden. Senior Ashley Sudbrock and junior Abby Zimpfer have also been strong.
St. Charles, which starts eight underclassmen, has some fine tuning to do before the rematch. Yet Orrick is confident that his club will play better the next time around.
"This team is capable of learning from its mistakes," he noted. "The best thing is they know what they did wrong and they know they're capable of doing things better."
St. Charles is slated to host Fort Zumwalt East Thursday night.