Given Columbia’s 6-11 record heading into the postseason, it would have been easy for an opponent to underestimate the Eagles.

But Columbia is showing they are a force to be reckoned with. With a 2-1 victory over Althoff on Friday, the Eagles won the Freeburg regional and kept their dream of a state trip alive.

Althoff struck first with an early goal, but Columbia was not deflated. The Eagles pressured the Crusaders’ defense, getting several scoring chances. Speedy junior forward Lauren Kaempfe scored on a rebound off the crossbar to tie the game with 18 minutes remaining in the first half, and the Eagles were back in business. Head coach Steve Ross said Althoff’s early goal served as a good wake up call for his team.

“The first few minutes, we were shaky,” he said. “But then we really turned it around after we gave up that goal. The intensity came back.”

Columbia continued to pile on the pressure after the break. Less than a minute into the second half, Kaempfe scored her second goal of the night off an assist from classmate Lauren Tolan. Ross had nothing but praise for Kaempfe and Tolan, who have been a dynamic duo for the Eagles.

“Tolan and Kaempfe really played well off of each other,” he said. “Putting them together has really opened things up for

us and created a lot of opportunities.”

After taking the lead, Columbia locked down on defense. The Eagles suffocated Althoff’s attack, and never gave the Crusaders a quality scoring opportunity. Goalkeeper Allison Riddle was strong in goal, aggressively denying the few shots she faced.

The Eagles advanced to the Columbia sectional semifinal, where they defeated Mater Dei on Tuesday at their home field, 2-0. Ross hopes his team can continue to prove that every team starts the postseason with a clean slate.

“Our regular season record doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’re 3-0 now.”

The Gibault Hawks also advanced to the Columbia sectional Friday night, posting a commanding 5-0 victory over Anna Jonesboro in Marion.

Maddie O’Neill scored a hat trick, and Monica Shuler and Hillary Wessel added a goal apiece as the Hawks rolled to a regional championship for the second straight year.

Gibault coach Matt Reeb was impressed with the dominant victory, acknowledging that Anna Jonesboro was a much better team than the final score may have indicated. More importantly, Reeb was happy with the scoring outburst, and said he has seen noted improvement the team’s scoring ability.

“We have struggled this year with being able to finish,” he said. “Creating chances has not been an issue but finishing them has, and we were able to do that against A-J.”

The regional title earned the Hawks a matchup with nemesis Alton Marquette on Tuesday. The Explorers knocked Gibault out of the playoffs last year in an overtime heartbreaker in the sectional championship, and also defeated the Hawks 2-0 earlier this season.

Reeb says that a lot has changed since that game three weeks ago, and his team is confident and ready.

“We did play them earlier, but we were without several important players because of injury that we now have back,” he said. “They are a very good team, so we will have our hands full, but I think our girls are up for the challenge.”

Waterloo

The Bulldogs (15-5-1) open regional play today (Wednesday) against Highland in Mascoutah. If they should win, Waterloo would face the winner of Triad vs. Mascoutah in the regional final to be played Friday at 4 p.m.