Girls soccer: Pasquale hat trick lifts St. Francis past Metea Valley
St. Francis sophomore Kendra Pasquale was unable to recall the last time she had a high school hat trick after Wednesday's 3-1 nonconference victory over Metea Valley in Wheaton.
That was simply because she had never registered one before.
Pasquale did the majority of her damage early on, staking the Spartans to a 2-0 lead a little more than 10 minutes into play.
"Every game coming in we know we usually have a very good team we're playing against," Pasquale said. "I just had to keep everything low and the seniors and captains picked us up early and told us to play quick and fast and to feed off of each other."
Pasquale was the one who was quickest, striking with her left foot on a shot that just hooked in to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead before connecting with her right foot to make it a 2-0 game.
"You give her an inch and she'll take a mile and they gave her more than a mile on that first one, which she buried," St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said. "And then she buried a second one. We took advantage of those chances in the first half, and while we played with effort there, I don't think we created a lot of scoring opportunities."
St. Francis (14-3-0) took advantage of the ones it created to enjoy a 2-0 lead at halftime.
"Everyone stepped up and kept the pressure on them from start to finish," St. Francis senior defender Brooke Roback said. "We did a really good job of communicating with our back four and closed the back gaps."
Pasquale concluded her unforgettable scoring night with a header with 26:54 left in the second half to make it a 3-0 game.
Metea Valley (9-7-4) didn't give up easily though, finally getting on the scoreboard with 10:09 remaining after a Jade Eriksen-Russo goal.
The Mustangs would put a few other shots on frame the rest of the way but never seriously challenge the Spartans.
"If we scored that fourth goal on them I think the game would've been a little less chippy at the end there and we would've taken them out of their game," Winslow said. "I was happy with what we are able to do. We didn't give them any real chances in the first half and the others we gave them were minimal."
The game served as the regular-season finale for both teams who will look to make some noise in the postseason beginning next week.
"It's been a good season," Winslow said. "Even in our losses I thought we'd had a good effort so I 've been pleased with that, and the girls have reason to be excited about where they're at right now."