Not easy, but Xavier girls back to state

CEDAR RAPIDS - When you accomplish what virtually everyone in the world expects you to, sometimes it's sighs more than smiles.

Don't misunderstand. There were a lot of the latter after Cedar Rapids Xavier beat Dubuque Wahlert, 3-1, Monday night in a Class 1A girls' soccer regional final.

But there were some of the former, too.

“It was a huge relief,” admitted Xavier senior forward Kat Mettenburg. “I think we might have gone in underestimating (Wahlert). We just had to figure our stuff out and work harder than we normally did. This is what the competition is going to be like the rest of the week, so this was good for us.”

Xavier (19-0) had to scrap to get back to the state tournament. Second-half goals from Lauren Konchar and Annie Dale broke a 1-1 tie as the Saints won their 25th consecutive game.

It's Glenwood in Thursday's first round for Xavier (1:15 p.m. start), as it searches for its fifth straight 1A title.

“Coming into this game, it was a lot of pressure winning,” said Dale, whose goal with 15:55 finally cemented the victory. “I think once they came aggressive on us, we just picked it up and played our game. We might have panicked a little, but we tried to remain calm. I just think it was more motivating to not lose this game. We had to get in it.”

Colleen Bouchard maneuvered her way through the penalty box and booted one into the net late in the first half to put Xavier on top, but Sara Doerr's deflection of a long free kick by Jenn Rauch near midfield tied it for Wahlert just 1:34 into the second.

Konchar's header eight minutes later, with an assist from Dale, turned out to be the winner.

“This was a really good game for us,” said Rauch. “It was a lot better than some of the previous games against them. It was intense. It just didn't come out our way.”

Xavier beat Wahlert in the regular season, 3-0.

“Honestly, there are always concerns,” said Xavier Coach Doug Graham. “That's the wonderful thing about soccer. Any day, any team can beat anybody. So you've always got to be mentally and physically prepared. The girls have done a great of doing that.

“Wahlert is a very good team. Physical. They came ready to play. All credit to them.”

Well, leave some credit for Xavier. It just keeps winning.

“One out of the way,” Graham said. “Now we've hopefully got three more games. One at a time.”