Griffins Win Third Straight Regional Title

GLEN CARBON – The Father McGivney Catholic High School girls soccer team made it a three-peat Tuesday afternoon.

The Griffins hosted their Gateway Metro Conference rivals from across the street, Maryville Christian, in an IHSA Class 1A regional final and won 8-0. It’s the third title in program history and the third straight.

“That’s pretty nice, pretty special,” McGivney head coach Matthew McVicar said. “This is just the start of what we want to accomplish, though, so we just continue to build from this.”

The record-breaking Griffins are now 23-1 and move on to the Belleville (Althoff Catholic) Sectional semifinals, where they’ll take on Gibault Catholic on Friday, May 23 at 5 p.m.

The hosts, Althoff, will take on Columbia in the second semifinal at 7 p.m. The Crusaders hosted the sectional a season ago and beat Columbia 1-0 in overtime for the sectional crown. Althoff later went on to win its third state championship.

Althoff was also the team to end McGivney’s season in the sectional semifinals.

But the Griffins still have to make it to the championship game to play either Althoff or Columbia, and they aren’t looking past the semifinal.

“We have a goal, and we just take it one game at a time,” McVicar said. “And if we do that, then we’ll get to where we want to be.”

McGivney had a chance to grab the lead over Maryville Christian early.

Less than two minutes in, Erin Kretzer’s close-range shot required a good save from Lions goalkeeper Ava Brandt. The senior captain was called upon early and often and was up to the task.

The Griffins were pounding on the door, and eventually, in the 17th minute, they broke it down.

Hayden Etcheson scored from right outside the 18-yard box, with Brandt getting a hand on the shot, but being unable to stop it.

That seemed to open the floodgates for McGivney.

Natalie Beck doubled the lead in the 24th minute. Kretzer made it 3-0 in the 26th minute.

Lili Strehl found the back of the net for the fourth time this season in the 35th minute, and two minutes after that, Beck got her second. The Griffins led 5-0 at halftime.

To start the second half, McVicar went to his bench and gave his starters some rest. He put everyone back on with 18 minutes left to play, and they’d score three more goals.

Beck wrapped up her hat-trick in the 72nd minute, and Devin Ellis made it 7-0 in the 77th. Finally, Carissa Speight scored with 29 seconds left to get to the final 8-0.

McGivney got goals from both its senior defenders and nearly got one for their goalie.

Peyton Ellis ran the length of the field in the 64th minute when McGivney was awarded a penalty for a Maryville Christian handball in the box, leading to a straight red card.

Unfortunately for Ellis, her shot was denied by Brandt in what was a fun moment from the match.

It was the third time McGivney beat the Lions this season, all of them via shutout. It was the 17th clean sheet this season for the Griffins.

McGivney just played its sectional semifinal opponent, Gibault, two weeks ago in Waterloo. The game was tied 1-1 at halftime, but Beck got the game-winner in the second half. She scored both McGivney goals. Beck is now up to 27 goals this season.

The Gibault Hawks started the season on a six-game win streak and would go on to be 11-3 midway through April. They’d then go seven games without a win to end the regular season before beating Massac County and Murphysboro in the playoffs.

Gibault now sits at 13-8-2 heading into Friday’s semifinal.

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