As Districts approach, the girls soccer team continues to work toward perfecting their chemistry through trial and error. On Monday, the team played against Troy, finishing off their game last week that was stormed out. This time, instead of playing in the midst of a storm, the team played in the blistering heat on a turf oven.

The game picked up where the teams had left off last week with four minutes left in the half and the score at 1-1. Both teams competed for control, and near the end of the half, sophomore Emmalee Schroeder managed to work her way deep into enemy territory setting, up an almost perfect scoring opportunity.

“She got the ball and dribbled it all the way down to the corner, and was about to get a perfect cross to the girls in the box,” sophomore Madelyn Kreienheder said.

As she cocked her leg back, ready to send the ball across the field to her teammates for a goal, the buzzer went off signaling the end of a short first half.

“I felt like it was kind of a warm up,” Schroeder said.

In the second half, the Spartans dominated, winning most of the 50/50 balls, keeping sequences going, and maintaining prime scoring position in Troy territory. Then, near the end of the half, senior Katie Wood slipped the ball by Troy goalie, locking in the win for the Spartans.

“It was a good game, probably one of the best we’ve ever played. We played hard and put in a lot of effort even though we were tired because it was hot,” Schroeder said.

The next day the team played rival Francis Howell North, whom they had lost to earlier in the season. The team sought redemption for their previous loss, and a win would put the girls 5-5 in conference. In the first half, the two teams were neck in neck, pressuring well and fending off all attacks on the Spartan goal while setting up some attacks of their own. After 40 minutes of play, both teams walked off the field scoreless as the first half came to a close.

“The first time we played North it was tied 0-0 at half too, and they came back and beat us 3-0, so we knew we had to keep it up,” Kreienheder said.

The Knights came out fast and furious, scoring two goals within the first 10 minutes of play. The Spartans soon retaliated with a goal by Wood, who danced around the Knight’s defense and found the back of their net, making the score 1-2. The Spartans frantically tried for another to tie the game, but the Knights were relentless, and managed to score another goal soon after Wood’s that guaranteed a Spartans loss of 1-3. The team is now 6-12 in their season and is seeded last in the District tournament next week.