On senior night, St. Aloysius honored some of the pioneers of its program. This year’s class had toiled for six of the seven years it had been in existence, never quite getting to the playoff promised land.

It took a seventh-grader to do that.

Haylee Prescott, a seventh-grade forward, dribbled a shot past Greenville-St. Joe keeper Brittany McTeer midway through the first half for the game’s only goal, and the Lady Flashes beat the Lady Irish 1-0.

The victory clinched St. Al’s first berth in the Class 1A-2A-3A playoffs since the girls’ program was started in 2003. The Lady Flashes (6-2-1, 2-2 Divison 4-1A-2A-3A) head to Corinth for a first-round game on Tuesday.

“It feels great. These girls definitely deserve it. They’ve been playing together so long and they stepped up tonight and did what they needed to do,” St. Al coach Keiko Booth said.

St. Joe controlled the early going, but the Lady Flashes turned the tide after a St. Joe corner kick deflected off the post at the 15-minute mark. St. Al only allowed one shot over the last 25 minutes of the half and started putting sustained pressure on McTeer. The Lady Irish keeper didn’t crack, though, only allowing the one goal.

In the 22nd minute, Madison Lumbley sent a pass toward the middle of the field. McTeer made a play on it, but couldn’t corral it. Prescott got just enough on a follow-up shot to get it past McTeer, who scrambled in vain after the ball to keep it out of the goal.

“It was like a pass. The goalie hit it down and she was fumbling it,” Prescott said. “I didn’t really think it would (make it).”

McTeer made another mistake a few minutes later, but atoned for it with a great save. Her punt resulted in a low line drive off the side of Riley Griffith’s head. The ball rocketed back at her from the 6-yard line, but McTeer was able to make the diving save to keep the score 1-0.

St. Al continued to pressure St. Joe, but couldn’t add an insurance goal. Lumbley chipped a shot high over the crossbar at the 26-minute mark of the second half, and McTeer made several nice saves to keep her team in it. McTeer finished with 11 saves as St. Al outshot the Lady Irish 14-6.

St. Joe turned up the pressure in the final 10 minutes, but it wasn’t able to score either. When the whistle finally sounded, some Lady Flashes welled up in tears while others simply smiled in relieved disbelief.

“It feels great,” said midfielder Marie Booth, one of five seniors who had been with the team since 2004. “Our team deserved it. We worked really hard this year.”

(B) Greenville-St. Joe 3, St. Aloysius 0

Jared Walker scored two goals, Brendan Faulk added another, and Greenville-St. Joe ended a miserable season for St. Aloysius with a shutout on Friday.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com