Coach Scott Mathis waited until the end of the St. Aloysius Lady Flashes’ final game to tell them they weren’t going to the playoffs.

Even though the players weren’t certain their team was out of contention, they did believe it would come down to the wire and gave everything they had in return. Mary Ranager scored three goals, and Brooklyn Breithaupt had a goal and two assists as St. Al finished the season with a 5-1 win over Park Place Christian on Thursday.

St. Al finished with an 8-3 record, but won’t get a chance to defend the MAIS Class AAA championship it won last season. All three losses came in district games, leaving the Lady Flashes in third place while Hartfield Academy and Park Place earned playoff berths.

“I’m proud of them. They’ve done great. We ended the season 8-3,” Mathis said. “We had to have beaten Hartfield one out of the two times and we didn’t.”

Losing multiple seniors from last year’s championship team set the Lady Flashes up for a sluggish start. They improved as the season progressed, but a couple of early district losses meant it was too little, too late.

“We played our hearts out this season. We lost some of our girls from last year and that kind of hurt us a little bit, but we came back near the end of the season and started giving it our all, started winning games,” Breithaupt said.

St. Al outscored its opponents 41-2 in its last three games. It won 21-1 against River Oaks last week.
There is some disappointment in not returning to defend their title, but Mathis said he’s only looking forward.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t play this way the rest of the season, but it is what it is. I don’t look back. We’ve just got to look forward,” Mathis said.

The first half of Thursday’s game was heavily defensive for the Lady Flashes. Park Place took shot after shot, but goal keeper Cameron Mathis blocked each one to keep the Lady Crusaders off the board.

“This season was the first season she has ever played goalie and she really just had the game of her life,” Scott Mathis said.

Madelyn Polk scored the first goal for the Lady Flashes about 20 minutes into the first half, making the halftime score 1-0.

Just three minutes into the second half, Ranager scored the Lady Flashes’ second goal, but the Lady Crusaders were on their heels and returned the favor three minutes later to bring the score to 2-1.

“After that second goal we just kept fighting and we were just being patient,” Scott Mathis said.

The score stayed the same for a while as Park Place again took control of the flow. It took 11 shots in the second half, but Cameron Mathis stopped all of them except one.

“She was stopping stuff that was just coming right at her. For a 14-year-old, this was a big game for her,” Scott Mathis said.

The Lady Flashes turned on the heat as the game began to wind down. Ranager and Breithaupt found themselves behind the last three goals of the game.

Breithaupt scored t after Anna Kate Doiron’s crossing pass was blocked. The ball came back out of the box after it bounced off the goalkeeper and the post, and a series of quick attempts led to Breithaupt’s goal.
Ranager scored her second goal of the day from the top center of the box in the 75th minute, and she added a third goal just two minutes later with an assist from Breithaupt to make the final score 5-1.

Breithaupt said the major factors in the Lady Flashes’ victory were passing, teamwork, hustle and playing the ball out wide.

“It’s whoever wants it more,” she said. “We wanted it.”

Breithaupt was a little emotional about the season coming to a close, but was pleased to end with a victory.

“It’s bittersweet, this being my senior year. I’m glad we came out on top and won,” she said.