Lamar's Alexandria Rowland changes directions with the ball during the Lady Raiders' second-round playoff game against Madison-St. Joe Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021, at Lamar. Madison-St. Joe won 2-1.

It was a heartbreaking ending to the Lady Raiders’ season.

The Lamar girls soccer team hosted Madison-St. Joe Thursday in the semifinal round of the MAIS Division II playoffs hoping to get back to the state title game for the first time since 2019. The Lady Raiders and Lady Bruins remained notched at 1-1 for most of the contest before a Madison-St. Joe goal in the 69th minute gave it a 2-1 advantage.

Lamar was unable to find the back of the net for the final 11 minutes, and the Lady Bruins clinched a championship-game berth in their first year as an MAIS member school.

“We just couldn’t put it in the back of the net, and sometimes that’s what happens in soccer,” Lamar girls soccer coach Gretchen Macdonald said. “It’s super cruel, and that’s why we play the game. The No. 1 seed doesn’t always win.”

The Lady Raiders’ lone goal came early in the contest from senior Alexandria Rowland, and Lamar was minus two key players in sophomore Anniston Monsour and senior Anna Claire Hutchinson. Monsour suffered a torn ACL this past weekend, and Hutchinson was out with a hamstring strain that was aggravated during Lamar’s first-round game against Oak Forest Academy Tuesday. 

“We’ve got some wonderful senior leaders that stepped up (in their absences) and talked to the girls, and we were prepared and ready, and I think we just got kind of unlucky,” Macdonald said. “Congratulations to St. Joe, they hung in there, and it was a tough environment to play in with fans and our field soaking wet and having to drive two hours. They stuck with it, and sometimes you have to win tough games, and they did, so congratulations to them, and we look forward to playing them again next year.”

Following the game, Macdonald thanked the seniors — Rowland, Hutchinson, Chloe Woodall, Elizabeth Scott Bond, Anna Catherine Evans and Betsy Suarez — for their dedication to the program and challenged the returning players to let the frustration of being eliminated motivate them going into 2022.

“At Lamar School we are huge on academics and athletics, and winning state championships is part of that, so for the kids who aren’t seniors, I wanted them to soak up that feeling of watching another team celebrate on your field and how disappointed and sad they were and to remember that next year,” Macdonald said.