Maryville High School girls soccer comes back to defeat Savannah, wins first MEC title since 2003

(SAVANNAH, MO) - The Maryville High School girls soccer team rebounded from being down 1-0 at halftime to rival Savannah to then score three second half goals and win 3-1.

Savannah jumped out in front first on a goal from senior Erin Larson just seven minutes into the game. But in the second half, the Spoofhounds turned it up a notch.

Sophomore Jade Price tied the game 1-1 on a goal seventeen minutes into the second half. Then just seven minutes later, senior Payton Kurz delivered a long strike for a goal just over Savannah keeper Schulyer Hall's head. That gave Maryville a 2-1 lead.

Then with eleven minutes left to play, senior Jersey Ingram added to the Spoofhounds lead with the team's third and final goal of the day on another long shot. Savannah tried to make a comeback but Maryville junior keeper Claire Walter had some big saves in the second half to prevent it from happening.

The win gives Maryville the outright Midland Empire Conference title, the first since 2003 for the school.

"I'm really excited, especially since we haven't won (conference) in 20 some years. I thought it was a great win personally," said Kurz. "I really, really wanted to win. I really wanted to win conference since we hadn't in forever, and I think we all did. We kind of just took all of our frustration towards (allowing Savannah's) goal and I think at the end we really passed well as a team together and just played well as a team."

"It feels amazing. I'm so proud of the way that these girls played today. We came out at half down one to nothing. know we've came back from a team like this before, but it really matters on a day like today when conference is on the line," said Maryville head coach Stephanie Ingram. "They did not get down at halftime. They came back with energy, they spoke, and I'm just so proud of them."

Mareyville improves to 9-3-1 on the year and concludes the regular season by hosting Harrisonville on Thursday, May 14th at 6:15 pm. Savannah falls to 12-6 and concludes the regular season at Bishop LeBlond on the 14th at 5 pm.