Jacksonville’s Mia Haefeli dribbles toward the goal during a girls’ soccer match against Alton in the quarterfinals of the Mattoon Regional on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville.
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
Action from the Jacksonville girls’ soccer team’s win over Alton in the Mattoon Regional quarterfinals on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville
Dennis Mathes | Journal-Courier
The Jacksonville girls’ soccer team won a regional match for the first time in 12 years as the Crimsons downed Alton 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the Mattoon Regional at Illinois College on Saturday.
The No. 8 seed Crimsons, now 11-13, will take on top-seeded Springfield in the regional semifinals at Mattoon on Tuesday. The match is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
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“The girls came with some fight in their heart, and they really wanted this for our program, and kind of moving us back in the right direction,” Jacksonville coach Drew Comstock said.
“It was pretty tough, but we definitely persevered, and I have a lot of faith in my team,” said Payton Murray, a sophomore who scored a goal with 10:52 left in the first half to increase the Crimsons’ lead to 2-0. “And I’m very happy we won. It was amazing.”
Freshman Madalyn DeFrates scored Jacksonville’s first goal with 20:46 left in the first half, breaking into the clear and shooting past the Alton goalkeeper.
Sophomore Myah Mefford, who scored the Crimsons’ final goal with 3:18 left in the first half on an assist from DeFrates, said the coach has been using the long playoff drought as motivation this season. “It feels like an honor to be on the team for that reason,” she said.
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“This is just brand new for all of us,” Mefford said. “Our team has grown so much, and I’m just so proud of my team. I just wanted to do it all for my team.”
Comstock said his players understood the assignment this season.
“They stepped it up with only seven total upperclassmen,” the coach said. “This team understands what the objective is this year, and they’re not backing down from anybody.”
Jacksonville also hadn’t won as many as 11 games in a season since 2014. The Crimsons are riding a three-match win streak, with shutout victories over Jersey, Lincoln and Alton.
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Saturday’s match was moved from Jacksonville’s Alumni Field after rain earlier in the day.
“We were really ready for anything with the weather today, and the change of going from grass to playing on turf,” Comstock said. “That’s always a big change.”
Jacksonville’s offense worked efficiently on Saturday, setting up several breakaways. “A lot of our offense today, our goals came from just counter-attack and capitalizing on their mistakes,” the coach said. “We typically do a much better job of building through the back line. Today we struggled with that, but I think just going to the turf played a part in that. But we’ve been finding the back of the net consistently throughout the season.”
Alton had some early chances, but Jacksonville senior keeper Chloe Kuhn kept the ball out of the goal, making two leaping saves to bat the ball up and over the net. Mefford replaced her in the second half and preserved the shutout.
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Saturday’s victory ended a dozen years of frustration for Jacksonville. After recording just six wins last year, and four the year before that, the Crimsons seem to be turning things around.
Murray said it felt “definitely iconic” to be a member of the first Jacksonville team in 12 years to win a regional contest. “I’m very happy about it. This is crazy because it’s been 12 years,” she said. “That’s a really long time. So I’m definitely proud of us. We definitely worked for it, very hard.”