Lady Irish Soccer opens season with win at the Rolla Bluefish Invitational Tournament.

by Dr. Ben Timson

Six schools competed in the season opener in two, three team brackets hosted at Rolla, MO March 20-21st, 2026.  The Irish were placed in Bracket A with Rolla and St. Francis Borgia, while Union, Washington, and Perryville St. Vincent occupied Bracket B. Bracket games were played on Friday with the championship, third, and fifth place games played on Saturday. 

Catholic opened the tournament against Rolla and played extremely well recording a 7-0 win. Amelia Luzecky scored the first goal of the season for the Irish just three minutes into the match to jump-start the team. Claire Majorahn scored twice, Izzy Hoerschgen, Addie Killinger, and Mila Jordan score one each and Amelia added her second to close out the scoring. Mya Marte recorded her first shutout in goal for the Irish. 

Twenty minutes after the match against Rolla ended the Irish took to the pitch again against St. Francis Borgia. Claire Majorahn scored six minutes in to give Catholic the lead, but Borgia tied it a minute later. The Irish took control of the game from there and advanced to the championship game with a 7-1 victory receiving two more goals from Claire, and one each from Crosby Morgan, Mila Jordan, Addie Killinger, and Ruby Schnabel. 

The championship match the following day was a wild, ten goal, affair with the Class 2 state runner-up the previous year, St. Vincent Lady Indians. St. Vincent jumped out to an early two goal lead, but the Irish fought back with goals from Addie Killinger and Ruby Schnabel to tie the game at the half. St. Vincent took the lead thirty seconds after the second half whistle, but the Irish stormed back and took a 4-3 lead on two goals in a four-minute span from Mila Jordan. St. Vincent knotted the game with twenty minutes to play, and the two teams dug in and fought to the finish. Mila put the Irish on top with six minutes to play and Claire Majorahn sealed the match and championship for the Irish with a final minute goal. 

The defense, consisting of Alice Farmer, Izzy Hoerschgen, Sloane Hampel, Summer Goodin, Sophia Foley, and Lily Layne was strong in front of Mya Marte in goal. The Irish midfield and forward groups scored an amazing twenty goals in the tournament, far more than they have ever scored in their previous nineteen trips to Rolla to open their season. Strong play in the midfield from Jude Daues, Helen Piatchek, and Aubrey Haik contributed significantly to that total. 

The championship was a great way to begin the season for the young Lady Irish squad consisting of one senior, four juniors, three sophomores, and eleven freshmen.