By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Central played a solid first half defensively and goalie Danielle Burg made eight saves, but the Indians (4-4) fell to Staley, 4-0, on Thursday evening at the Den.
The Falcons (6-4) got on the board less than four minutes into the match. Staley kept the ball on Central's side of the pitch for much of the first half, and had three corner kicks in the first 3.5 minutes.
On the third corner kick, junior forward Ruby Henson sent the ball into the back of the net off of Maddylen Farris' corner boot.
Staley had five more shots-on-goal in the first half, but the Indians only trailed 1-0 at halftime.
"Danielle had a fantastic day today (in the goal)," Central head coach Christi Shaffer said. "I couldn't be more proud of the way she showed out today. I think the defensive line really put a lot together to be able to shut down the two attackers (Staley) has, so I think they did very well."
Of the seven corner kicks the Falcons had in Thursday's match, they only managed to score on one of them.
"I would have to say today as a team collectively, it was a win for us," Shaffer continued. "Because, we played against a great team that moves the ball pretty well and I think we defended it pretty good."
Just like the first half, though, Staley controlled the pace offensively in the second half, and quickly added to their lead.
Junior Jordan Bedard scored off of a pass from senior Leah Hays in the 18-yard box , putting the Falcons ahead 2-0 less than two minutes into the second half.
Henson Bedard each scored one more goal inside the final 10 minutes of the match, breaking a two-game losing streak for Staley and giving Central its third straight loss.
Staley finished with 12 shots-on-goal compared to just two by Central.
"We're just a little slow on our passing and our distribution between each other," Shaffer observed. "Other than that, I don't think there's anything outstanding they did to shut us down."
The Indians have faced stiff competition the last six days, facing Kearney (4-1) last Friday and going to Lee's Summit (6-1) on Tuesday.
Central has been outscored 15-0 in the last three games combined, but Shaffer is still encouraged by her team's effort and attitude, especially after Thursday's match.
Central gets a few days off before going to Park Hill (4-5) Tuesday and then Park Hill South (5-3) next Friday.
"We'll get to work and we'll keep going," Shaffer said. "We don't go into it any different, really. We go out there to play hard and play well defensively and work the ball up as a team."
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