East girls soccer team ready to take another step forward in Todd-Baptist’s third season

Belleville East’s girls soccer team has hit the ground running under third-year coach Erika Todd-Baptist.

After opening the season March 14 with a 3-2 loss to Rochester in the Metro East Cup, the Lancers on March 16 defeated O’Fallon 1-0 and then rallied from three goals down in the second half Friday to beat Springfield 4-3 on penalty kicks.

East didn’t score against the Senators until 17 minutes into the second half when sophomore Grace Brauer converted on a set play. Sophomore Annie Brown got the Lancers closer with an unassisted goal before senior Lilly Brauer knocked in a free kick to tie it.

Two overtimes and one PK period later, the comeback was complete.

“It was a collective effort,” Todd-Baptist said. “You could tell the girls were hungry. They were wanting to score and they weren’t going to stop until they did. It was just a matter of it falling in the net. It was an exciting game for us. We needed that.

“It’s all about some girls that didn’t play a lot of varsity minutes stepping up this year. It’s really about them finding their groove and playing together. The girls work hard. We have good senior leadership and we have young talent. It meshes well for us.”

Building blocks

The Lancers took a major step forward last season, finishing 12-9-2 overall and 1-4-1 in the Southwestern Conference. East also scored 49 goals after collecting just 11 in Todd-Baptist’s first year in 2014 when the team finished 2-16.

“My first year, we just wanted to compete. We didn’t have strong talent and we didn’t have depth,” Todd-Baptist said. “My second year, we wanted to beat the teams we were supposed to beat and still compete with the teams that were strong. This year, we’re going in to beat the best. But you have to play consistently. That’s hard when you only have these girls for two or three months.

“I look forward to the season. It just goes by so quickly.”

The offense

East has plenty of returning experience in its attack.

Grace Brauer is back at forward after leading East with 11 goals last season. Brown and seniors Rylan Lopez and Alyssa Bartle are the top midfielders. Junior Kara Gunter and sophomore Lauren Buschur also will see lots time in the midfield.

“Grace works so hard,” Todd-Baptist said. “She has the drive to score goals. Sometimes it’s hard to teach and coach people how to want to score. She always finds the back of the net, and you can’t ask for more than that. Grace will be highly marked, I’m sure, but that just leaves everybody else open for opportunities.”

Brown had four goals and four assists last season, but Todd-Baptist already has witnessed Brown being more aggressive and offensive-minded this year. Brown and Brauer play club ball together and have established chemistry that could further boost East’s offense.

“They’re fun to watch,” Todd-Baptist said. “Rylan and Alyssa add to it.”

The defense

Lilly Brauer and senior Julia Moran lead the way on the back line. Freshman Hailey Harlan earned a starting spot as a wing defender, while junior Alyssa Endsley is another top defender. Moran also is a volleyball player who has committed to Division II Kentucky Wesleyan.

“Lilly is probably the anchor to our defense,” Todd-Baptist said. “She’s recovered from two ACL(surgeries), so she’s a fighter. She doesn’t have a lot of speed, but she’s a good leader and she directs well. Julia is our biggest girl. She’s really learned a lot as far as patience of defending goes.”

Todd-Baptist said sophomore Cecilia Maue is a versatile player who will see time at defender and forward depending on East’s opponent.

Sophomore Grace Tantillo returns in goal. She earned the shutout against O’Fallon and made two big saves in the PK period against Springfield.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 12:36 PM with the headline "East girls soccer team ready to take another step forward in Todd-Baptist’s third season."