Xavier dominates, 6-peat very much alive

MUSCATINE - Without their leading goal scorer around, they needed someone else to step up offensively and their defense to play well.

Done and done.

The Cedar Rapids Xavier Saints are one game from a six-peat after their 4-0 whitewashing of Glenwood in a Class 2A state soccer tournament semifinal Friday afternoon. No matter the sport, impressive doesn't even begin to describe this run.

These girls and this program are so good they destroyed a Glenwood club that was 17-1 and had given up three goals all season. That's despite the absence of Kayla Armstrong, a 35-goal scorer who had to sit out after being given a red card in Xavier's 4-0 quarterfinal romp over Independence.

Xavier has won 17 consecutive state tournament games and goes for its sixth consecutive championship Saturday afternoon at 1 against Waukee (15-3), a game that will be televised live on KCRG-9.2. The Saints are in the title game for an unprecedented eighth straight year.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm a broken record," said Xavier Coach Doug Graham. "But I truly just tell them to take it one game at a time. Just say, 'Hey, guys, let's enjoy it now. We've done all the work. Just kind of kick back and enjoy it.' That's what we try and focus on."

"There's always a lot of pressure, no matter what it is," said Xavier goalkeeper Tori Shepard, about to start in her fourth championship game. "But we'll channel it into the game. We'll just play. And I think if we play like we did today, we can probably win."

It was Annie Dale who provided much of the offense with a hat trick accomplished in a little over a half. She scored 8:27 in (off an assist from Lauren Konchar), then made it a 3-0 game with an unassisted goal at the 27:38 mark.

Another unassisted goal 21 seconds into the second half gave her a thrilling three. Defender Nicole Noonan had her first goal of the season for Xavier (18-2).

"We all knew we had to do something," Dale said. "So we just decided as a team that everyone just needed to step it up, get your head in the game because we knew we were missing a big part our team."

"Annie got the first one about eight or nine minutes in, so that got us off to a good start," Graham said.

Glenwood rarely threatened, as Xavier was able to play a lot of its bench players, which could be important in Saturday's third-game-in-three-days scenario.

"I thought we came together really well," Shepard said. "We played off the ball well, played to each other and played the feet. Just played our game and it paid off."

Again.

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