St. John Paul II, St. Luke’s Episcopal
Move into 4A Girls’ Championship
HUNTSVILLE – Posting a hat trick in high school soccer is still Rare achievement. Wednesday night, St. John Paul II Catholic’s Falcons saw two players – sophomore Lauren Altman and senior Ella Cazzavillan – both accomplish the feat.
The Falcons (18-1-2) rolled past Cherokee County 9-0 in the Class 4A girls’ semifinal match at John Hunt Soccer Park as St. John Paul II advanced to Friday’s Class 4A girls’ state soccer finals. The Falcons from Huntsville, coached by Sam Bennett, will be facing St. Luke’s Episcopal of Mobile for the championship. The Wildcats (16-6-0) downed Westminster-Oak Mountain 7-1 in Wednesday’s other semifinal bout of the AHSAA’s 34th State Soccer Championships. The finals will be at 11:30 a.m.
Alexandra Jodon opened the scoring in St. John Paul II’s victory Wednesday with a goal just 11 minutes into the contest. Jessi O’Brien followed three minutes later for a 2-0 Falcons lead. The dominating offensive attack continued with Altman scoring the next two goals in a six-minute span and assisted on Cazzavillan’s first goal one minute later.
Altman scored her third goal at 35:33 of the first half as St. John Paul went in at halftime leading 7-0. Cazzavillan tacked on two quick goals in the second half and assisted on the final goal delivered by Brianna Dorsett, and Bennett sent in the reserves for the rest of the match.
St. John Paul II officially had 20 shots on goal while Cherokee County (10-7-0) had none. Goalie Cali Martin, an eighth grader, totaled 11 saves to force the contest to go full length.
