ALTON - The Marquette Catholic High School girls soccer team won their 12th Regional Championship in school history on Friday (May 13) when they defeated the Greenville Comets 7-1.
Helping out and scoring two goals in that game was junior midfielder, Caroline Stephan.
She scored in the 15th minute to make it a 2-0 game after she tapped the ball in off a cross sent in by her teammate freshman forward Ella Anselm.
Her other goal came in the 39th minute. She crossed half field and ran onto a through ball. She only had to beat one defender which she did before she buried the ball in the back of the net.
She’s now scored eight goals this season. Stephan is a Tucker's Automotive Repair & Tire Inc. Female Athlete of the Month for the Explorers.
Stephan mentioned that in the preseason, winning a regional title wasn’t exactly an expectation, but once her team saw the schedule, they kind of knew they could.
“Once we saw the schedule, I think we did expect to get this far, but we didn’t know who we would be playing in the regional finals, so we weren’t sure yet,” Stephan said after her two-goal performance.
The Explorers defeated Pana 7-0 in the Regional Semifinals to make it to the championship game. Stephan had a goal in that game as well.
The Explorers aren’t done yet though and Stephan is ready to keep going.
“Last year we made it pretty far, so hopefully we make it that far again this year,” Stephan added.
“We aren’t finished yet. I don’t know who we’re going to play next, but I know it’s going to be a hard one,” she finished with.
Marquette Catholic didn’t know their opponent then, but they do now. They’ll take on Sacred Heart-Griffin tomorrow (May 17) at 6 p.m. at Quincy Notre Dame.
