Vandy girls move on to Final 4

With the halftime score reading 3-0 in his team’s favor, Vandebilt Catholic girls soccer coach Philip Amedee had a clear message to his team.

“3-0 isn’t safe,” he told his team. “I think that 4, 5, or even 6-0 would be even better.”

The Lady Terriers took their coach’s suggestion and put it atop their to-do list.

Next stop: the State Semifinals.

Vandebilt, the No. 1 seed in the Division II girls soccer playoffs added three more second half goals, scoring early and often to pound Cabrini, 6-0, Saturday in the state quarterfinals.

The win moves the Lady Terriers to the semifinals where they will meet the winner of Lakeshore and Neville, who met Monday evening with a score unavailable as of press time.

“We played very well. We’ve been playing some good soccer,” Amedee said. “This was a good win and we’ve just continued to do what we needed to do. That’s kind of the theme in the playoffs – do what you’ve got to do.”

Makelle Pena, Meghan Philp and Kimberly Grasso provided all of the firepower for the Lady Terriers in the quarterfinals, each scoring two goals to power the team.

In the playoffs, Vandebilt has showcased its offense, outscoring opponents by a 16-1 margin in their two games.

“Create opportunities and just finish it off by putting it into the back of the net,” Philp said. “That’s basically all that we’ve been doing in these games.”

With the win, the local soccer powerhouse is now two wins away from another state title.

That crown eluded the team last year, as they lost a 2-0 decision in the state finals to St. Louis.

Amedee said his players and coaching staff don’t ever bring up the team’s loss in the playoffs last year. But he added he can sense that the loss is still fresh in his team’s mind and this time around, the Lady Terriers don’t want to come up short.

“We don’t really talk about it, but it’s just something that’s known,” Amedee said. “We told them after the game last year to remember how bad this feels and to remember this bad taste that losing leaves in your mouth.”

If the way they are playing now is any indication of the future, that sour taste might not visit the Lady Terriers’ players again this time around.

“We remember what happened last year and we just practice differently now,” Pena said. “We strive every day to improve our game and everything each time we play.”

“We’ve just got to come out stronger this year and keep working harder,” Grasso said. “If we do that, I think we’ll be fine.”

Amedee agreed and said he believes his team is hungry and ready to try and win two more games.

The state championship is just 160 minutes of soccer away.

“They are hungry,” he said. “This is a team that just comes to work day in and day out and knows what they need to do.”

Elsewhere in the Tri-parish area:

Like the Vandebilt girl’s, the school’s boy’s team is also still alive in the postseason, currently holding a spot in the State quarterfinals.

The No. 3 seed in the Division II playoffs earned their spot after scoring a 1-0 win against McKinley last week.

Vandebilt took on East Jefferson Tuesday night with a score unavailable as of press time. East Jefferson played their way into the game after upsetting No. 6-seed Morgan City by a 1-0 margin.