By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Bishop LeBlond honored its three seniors on Senior Night by scoring three goals, two of them within three minutes of each other in the first half, and the Eagles hung on to beat Mid-Buchanan on Tuesday evening, 3-2.
The Eagles (8-5) got down 1-0 early after Mid-Buchanan's Jordan Thornton put in an unassisted goal on the run from the right side, giving the Dragons a 1-0 lead less than six minutes into the match.
Less than two minutes later, LeBlond struck back. Off of a corner kick from freshman Charley Elliott, junior Tatum Studer put the ball in the goal on a well-timed header to knot the game at 1-1 with 32:47 left in the first half.
"This was definitely a big win," Studer said. "Especially for the seniors and for districts, because this could potentially put us as the No. 1 seed."
Less than three minutes later, LeBlond struck again. Elliott took a free kick and found sophomore Allie Welter inside the Mid-Buchanan box. Welter poked the ball through to put the Eagles up 2-1.
The final 29:50 of the first half was scoreless, but LeBlond got an insurance goal with 29:54 left in the second half. Senior Emily Welter took a penalty kick and knocked it straight through to put the Eagles up 3-1.
"I was just really excited," Welter said. "I think we all knew this was going to be a really tough game, but we came out and played as a team and communicated and passed really well. I think we did really good overall and I'm just proud of everybody, too."
Mid-Buchanan (10-6), who lost to LeBlond at Eagle Stadium in the Class 1 District 8 title game last May, didn't go away quietly. Sophomore Liv Moeckli took a corner kick, and connected with fellow sophomore Mia Kirschner, who put the ball through to make it a 3-2 game with still 26:14 to play.
LeBlond's defense held firm throughout, limiting the Dragons to just four shots-on-goal.
"I was real pleased with the way the girls played," LeBlond coach Chad Thompson said. "They showed moments of playing really, really good soccer and hopefully we can get that honed in by the time postseason rolls around."
LeBlond heads to Excelsior Springs Thursday, while Mid-Buchanan plays at Benton Friday.
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