O’Leary, defense lead Collinsville girls soccer past West
Collinsville senior midfielder Alynnah O’Leary scored a pair of goals in the first half, and the Kahoks defense was air-tight throughout in a 3-0 win over Belleville West on Tuesday in a Southwestern Conference girls soccer game.
The Kahoks’ offensive leader with 14 points entering play on Tuesday, O’Leary scored her eighth and ninth goals of the season in a 15-minute stretch midway through the first half.
After providing Collinsville (4-2-1) with the only goal it would need when she scored on a rebound in the 19th minute, O’Leary showed off her speed as she took the ball on the left side of the field, blew past a Maroons defender and beat Maroons goalie Bailey Redden with a shot from 15 yards out.
The goal, which came with 7:50 left in the first half, gave Collinsville a two-goal lead and put the Maroons (5-2-3) in a deep hole.
“The first goal was on a rebound. I was just in the right spot at the right time,” O‘Leary said. “The second goal I got a great pass from a teammate and was able to get past the defense. Tonight I thought we moved the ball from side to side very well and because of it, we were able to create some scoring chances. Offensively, this was about as well as we’ve played all year.”
Dayle McEwen scored off a corner kick early in the second half as Collinsville increased its lead to 3-0. West, which lost its first game of the season Saturday to 4-0 Jackson (Mo.), had no answer as it falls to 0-1-1 in the SWC.
Collinsville is now 2-0 in the SWC.
“I just told the girls that this was about the best we’ve moved the ball all season. We saw how Belleville West played, and we did a good job of moving the ball from side to side,” Kahoks coach Clay Smith said. “Alynnah (O’Leary) is off to a great start in her senior year.”
Key sequence
Belleville West, which didn’t allow a goal in its first six games and has given up only nine goals in its first 10 games, didn’t have many scoring chances against the Kahoks defense.
But coach Jason Mathenia’s team had a chance to tie the game late in the first half.
Three minutes after O’Leary’s first goal gave Collinsville the lead, West sophomore midfielder Katelyn Grandcolas had her shot from 20 yards out stopped on a diving save by Kahoks goalie Morgan Lerch.
Less than three minutes later, O’Leary made it 2-0 with her second goal of the game.
“We didn’t have a many scoring opportunities. But we had a couple early in the game.” Mathenia said. “We’re moving some people around and making changes on defense right, and when you are playing three freshmen and four sophomores, I guess you can expect to have a few growing pains.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 1:26 AM with the headline "O’Leary, defense lead Collinsville girls soccer past West."