Welter's four goals lead to 8-0 victory for LeBlond in district semifinals
May 18—FAUCETT, Mo. — Bishop LeBlond will have an opportunity to win its second straight Class 1 District 8 championship, securing its place in the Class 1 District 8 finals with an 8-0 mercy rule victory over Guadalupe Center Charter on Tuesday at Mid-Buchanan High School.
Senior forward Emily Welter scored four goals in the one half of soccer played, including the game's opening score in the fourth minute.
"I think my team was doing a great job of just getting those balls in there where we could score," Welter said. "Along with Emily Weddle, we just had a lot of opportunities to put them away. I think we both did that pretty well."
Weddle scored two goals in the 19th and 23rd minutes, respectively. The second came off of an assist from freshman Murphy King that was deftly knocked in out of the air by Weddle's knee.
"I don't really know (what happened)," she said, laughing. "I was just ready if (King) missed to hit it in, and it just hit off my knee and happened to go in."
Freshman Claire Heater also scored in the 22nd minute, and sophomore Allison Welter knocked in another in the 33rd.
With seven minutes to go and fourth-seeded Guadalupe Charter (7-10) suddenly stepping their game defensively, the pressure was on No. 1 LeBlond (12-6) to come up with the eighth goal that they needed to end the game after one half. With 12 seconds remaining, Emily Welter received the feed at point blank range and booted it in.
"I think once there were just a few minutes left, we were like 'Ok, we need to just finish it off here,'" Welter said. "We couldn't really put one in and I don't think we were really trying to force one either, but I think we were kind of panicking and time was running out and I just saw the opportunity and took it."
They will play Mid-Buchanan in Faucett for the district championship on Thursday at 6 p.m.
No. 2 Mid-Buchanan 9,
No. 3 Cristo Rey 0
The Dragons won their own district semifinal game via mercy rule in the second game of the evening, thanks in large part to the three-goal scoring effort of sophomore Emily Parrott.
Mid-Buchanan sophomore Liv Moeckli opened the game with a quick score in the second minute, followed by three straight assisted goals by Parrott on crossers from Moeckli and junior Jordan Thornton. Just 11 minutes into the game, the Dragons were already halfway to the score total they needed to end the game by the halfway mark.
Sophomore Kamille Black scored another in the 19th, followed by another goal from Moeckli, and then a pair of goals from Thornton. Senior Khania Clark added another via penalty kick with 25 seconds to go for good measure.
The win sets up a rematch against Bishop LeBlond, who beat the Dragons in the district tournament last season and narrowly edged them out in the 2022 regular season in a 3-2 game. Coach Danielle Beers spoke on what she wants to see from her team in this district title.
"I think I want for us to play our game, and not play scared. Being just a two-year old program, sometimes we do that," she said. "I want us to come out strong right from the beginning and play the whole 80 minutes and play our game. That's what it's going to take for us to achieve the goal that we want."
Levi Smith can be reached at levi.smith@newspressnow.com.
