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St. Aloysius' Megan Theriot (15) heads the soccer ball in the second half of Monday's game against Park Place Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Frances Ferrell, left, battles Park Place's Brylee Wall (15) for possession of the ball during Monday's game in Pearl. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Mallory Hobson (13) takes a shot on goal during Monday's game against Park Place Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Audrey Grace Newman gets tangled up with Park Place's Reese Williams after sending a shot toward the goal. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Rileyanne Smithhart (16) watches the ball go past Park Place's Brylee Wall (15) during Monday's game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Anna Kate McKnight (6) tries to fend off a Park Place defender during Monday's game in Pearl. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Anelice McCain (11) battles Park Place's Reese Williams (31) for possession of the ball during Monday's game in Pearl. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Frances Ferrell takes free kick during Monday's game against Park Place Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius soccer player Lynlee McMillin (4) dribbles the ball Monday against Park Place Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

PEARL — St. Aloysius dominated possession. It generated scoring chances. The only thing it didn’t do was score, and that was — and is — a big problem.

St. Al outshot Park Place 19-3, but Park Place’s Ava Montgomery found the net in the 68th minute for the game’s only goal to give the Lady Crusaders a 1-0 victory in a crucial MAIS girls’ soccer match-up on Monday.

“The ball really did not bounce in our favor. We took 30 shots. It hit the back of the keeper, it hit the back of somebody, it hit an ant probably. It did everything but go inside the goal,” St. Al coach Gio Baldizon said.

St. Al’s playoff chances took a major hit with the loss. The Lady Flashes’ Division II Central record dropped to 2-3, a half-game behind Park Place (9-9-2 overall, 3-3 in division) with only one game remaining.

To qualify for the playoffs, St. Al will need to win on the road Wednesday at Copiah Academy. If St. Al loses, Park Place will take the final berth from the Central.

“They’ve got to take this in tonight, but tomorrow we’ve got to go into practice and get ready for Wednesday,” Baldizon said. “This is not the way you want to get into the playoffs, through the back door, but if we have to crawl in the back door that’s what we’ll do.”

The Lady Flashes dominated the flow of play for almost the full 80 minutes Monday. They peppered Park Place keeper Halle Mosley with 19 shots on goal, plus a few more that required some work. Mosley finished with 16 saves and got bailed out with some fortunate breaks on a couple of the shots she missed.

Frances Ferrell sailed a 20-yard free kick over Mosley’s head — and just over the crossbar — in the 52nd minute.

In the 75th, Rileyanne Smithhart hit the right post with a shot from inside the box. And in the 79th and final minute of the game, Audrey Grace Newman took a long shot that was deflected by Mosley and hit off the outside of the left post and out of bounds.

The stream of near-misses allowed the rare one that Park Place cashed in on to stand up. In the 68th minute, Montgomery dribbled in from the left sideline and curled a shot just inside the shoulder of St. Al keeper Sara Smith to break the scoreless tie.

Park Place held on from there, just barely, to steal the inside track to the postseason from the Lady Flashes.

“Unfortunately it just takes one counterattack, and that’s what happened and they were able to take the ball in,” Baldizon said. “There’s no other answer to that than the ball did not bounce in our favor.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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