Midway through the first half Tuesday, the Collinsville girls soccer team found itself down a goal on the road against a good O’Fallon team, but they did not take any time to sulk.

Emily Holten / Photo by Sherry Holten

Less than a minute after All-State forward Quin Wilkes put the Lady Panthers up 1-0, Sophia Sharos played a ball to Emily Holten, who drove it home to tie the game. The goal was the freshman’s fourth on the season. Sharos collected her third assist on the play.

Head Coach Clay Smith said his young team showed grit scoring so quickly after what could have been a deflating goal.

“This game had a regional atmosphere to it and they responded,” Smith said.

Mikayla McCarthy threatened to give the Kahoks (6-2-1, 5-0 Southwestern Conference) the lead nine minutes into the second half when she split a pair of defenders and touched the ball over the head of the goalkeeper, but her shot went just over the top of the goal.

Collinsville broke through for the winner in the 57th minute when Tayler Devine took a shot that was deflected to fellow freshman Andrea Frerker whose left-footed shot sent the O’Fallon goalkeeper backpedaling until she watched helplessly as the ball settled into the back of the net. The goal was Frerker’s first of the season.

“She deserves it, she’s been working tough,” Smith said. “She’s been right there. She’s hit the bar a lot this season, so I’m happy to see her get that game winner,”

Smith credited his team with sticking to the game plan to carry them to within one victory of a perfect conference season. The Kahoks travel to Granite City on April 24 for their final conference match of the season. The Warriors fell to Belleville West Tuesday, leaving Collinsville as the only Southwestern Conference team without a league loss.

O’Fallon fell to 7-3-1 on the season, 1-2 in the Southwestern Conference.

The Kahoks will have no time to bask in their victory. They return to action at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Kahok Stadium against Alton Marquette.