BELLEVILLE - Ella Thompson had a first half brace (two goals), and it was enough as Edwardsville didn't allow a shot on goal throughout the night in the Tigers' 2-0 win over Collinsville in the first semifinal of the IHSA Class 3A Belleville West regional tournament, played Tuesday evening at Bob Goalby Field.
The Tigers go through to the final on Friday with the win, and will play host host Maroons, who defeated Belleville East in a penalty shootout 5-4 to advance 3-2 after extra time in the second semifinal.
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Edwardsville head coach Abby Federmann was very pleased with the Tigers' defensive line, who held the Kahoks without a shot for the entire match.
"They played well tonight," Federmann said. "The defense of (Ayla) Homann, (Blakely) Hockett, (Davi) Heiser, (Olivia) Wolz, and (goalkeeper Genny) Burroughs didn't allow a single shot and only one corner kick."
Thompson made it 1-0 after 32 minutes off a throw in from Heiser that was volleyed straight into the back of the net by Thompson, then she doubled the Edwardsville lead from a throw in by Hockett, rifling the ball in from distance before the halftime whistle to make it 2-0.
In the second half, the Tiger defense did the job, holding the Kahoks without a shot as Burroughs recorded the clean sheet to give Edwardsville the 2-0 win and the berth in the final.
The Tigers are now 13-3-3, and move on to the final against the Maroons on Friday evening, with the kickoff coming at 6 p.m. The Kahoks end their season at 6-12-1.
The Edwardsville-West winner goes on to the O'Fallon sectional, where they'll face either the host Panthers or Granite City, who play the final of the Granite regional Friday night, next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
The winner plays against the winner of the semifinal against either the winner of the Normal Community West or Pekin regionals, In the Round of 16 sectional final May 30 at 6:30 p.m.
The sectional winner goes on to the super-sectional match at Bloomington High School on June 3 at 6 p.m., with the super-sectional winner playing in the state finals June 6-7 at North Central College in Naperville.
