Devin Ellis’ Late Header Secures McGivney’s 1-0 Victory Over Edwardsville

GLEN CARBON – Devin Ellis headed in a perfectly placed corner from Rachel Kretzer in the 79th minute to the far post, and the goal was enough to give Father McGivney Catholic a dramatic 1-0 win over Edwardsville in a girls' soccer match played Wednesday evening, April 30, 2025, at McGivney.

The match started about 45 minutes late, due to lightning and a heavy thunderstorm that passed through the area prior to kickoff. Once it started, it was a very well-played game by two of the better sides in the area this season that seemed destined to be a goalless draw until Ellis’ strike, a goal that rescued the Griffins’ undefeated and untied season.

It was a signature win for the Griffins, and after the game, assistant coach Chris Hooker, who ran the club in place of head coach Matt McVicar, who was out of town, was feeling ecstatic.

“On cloud nine right now,” Hooker said. “We’ve been talking to these girls, and just working every single day to get one percent better, one percent better. We don’t have to get leaps and bounds better, but are we working every single day to get a little better? This was our biggest test of the year, So, coming into it, it was a testament to see if they were really putting the work in, or if they were just saying they were, and as you see on the scoreboard today, they are putting the work in every single day. So, feeling great for these girls.”

Hooker described the goal as getting a lucky bounce at the right time.

”We talked about at the half, we need one lucky bounce,” Hooker said. “we were working hard in our defensive half most of the game, and whenever we get that opportunity, you just have to 110 percent push it all in. You‘re going to go either full in, or we’re going to lose at our hardest.

"We ended up getting a corner, Rachel has been giving us good balls all year, from the corner spot, Devin has been attacking those balls, it’s probably her fourth or fifth header off a corner, and it’s repetition, repetition, repetition. It couldn’t be a bigger moment for the bigger stars on the team to come up and shine. So, kudos to both of these girls.”

It's a very important three points for McGivney as the team gets ready for the postseason later on in May, plus the remainder of the Gateway Metro Conference season.

“Every win now is important to us,” Hooker said. “We really don’t look at the standings, and who’s where and what, but every single day, we’re working on ourselves. We’re working on how do we get a little bit better, and it’s an internal thing rather than an external thing. It’s nice to see our internal work against ourselves; everybody sees how much harder we’re working than a lot of these teams, so it’s a huge testament to the girls. Just keep an eye out, we’re coming. This is a great group of girls, great coaching staff, and this is something special to these girls. So, keep an eye out.”

Both sides had a number of good opportunities in the opening 15 minutes, with the two goalies – Edwardsville’s Genny Burroughs and McGivney’s Peyton Ellis – coming up to stop the rushes on goal. About halfway through the first half, Edwardsville began to assert itself, having the better of the play, but came up empty in scoring the first goal. Late in the first half, the Griffins had a pair of opportunities, but were turned away by a solid Tiger defense, as the first half ended up 0-0.

The second half saw the play mostly concentrated in the midfield, with both sides being turned back when they ventured forward. Peyton Ellis made a pair of good saves on attempts by Edwardsville to keep the match scoreless, and the Griffins starting to assert themselves in the final 10 minutes, but the game seemed destined to end in a goalless draw.

IN the 79th minute, the Griffins were given a corner, where Kretzer went over to take. It. She placed the ball perfectly to the far post, where Devin Ellis was there to head home past Burroughs and inside the post to score ant make it 1-0 for the Griffins. The match wasn’t quite over yet, and in the final minute, Natalie Beck was booked for knocking down a Tiger player to stop a potential break. The Tigers put the ball deep into the Griffins’ end, where it was easily cleared right before the final whistle, which gave McGivney their 1-0 win in a tremendously played match on both sides.

The Tigers are now 7-3-3, and get right back into the action on Thursday at Alton in a 6 p.m. match, then continue their road swing at O’Fallon Tuesday, and at Belleville West next Thursday, both matches starting at 6:30 p.m.

The Griffins stay at 100 percent at 16-0-0, and next play at Belleville Althoff Catholic Friday at 7 p.m., at Columbia Monday at 6:30 p.m., and Waterloo Gibault Catholic next Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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