St. Mary played host to the Trigg County Wildcats on Tuesday night as they looked to bounce back from a hard loss to McCracken County a week earlier. The Vikings did indeed bounce back, beating the Wildcats 3-1 to improve to a 3-5 record on the season.
With just five games remaining in regular season play, this win came in prime time to keep the Vikings confidence up as they face all but one region opponent the rest of the way.
Junior Edward O’Neill got the scoring started for St. Mary as the Vikings came out of the gate ready to attack. The goal came with 30 minutes left on the clock as he kept the ball on the ground and past the Trigg County keeper. This would be the only goal in the first half of play for either team, making it a 1-0 Vikings lead heading into the half.
Despite the lone goal, the St. Mary offense struck fast and often on the net, but were only able to get one successfully into the net.
On the defensive end of the ball, while the Vikings were able to keep any and all shots out of their net, the first line of defense seemed sluggish. They allowed the ball to get to keeper, Brett Haas a few too many times for the Vikings liking.
Trigg County struck first in the second half on a costly St. Mary penalty in their on box. This put senior Nik Kaster square in front of Haas and sent it just out of reach to tie the game 1-1 with 30 minutes left in the game.
Time wound down and the chances of a penalty kick shootout were becoming more and more likely. Then, with just eight minutes left, Brayden Kloss received a well placed inbound pass and worked the left side of the box to hook the ball into the top of the net to take the 2-1 lead.
Jackson Willett put the nail in the coffin with just two minutes left when he snagged the Vikings third goal.
In the net Haas had 12 saves on the night, six per half to secure the win.
The Vikings will be back in action on the road on Monday, Sept. 12 to take on McCracken County in a First District matchup and will return home to take on the Marshall County Marshals the next day.