BROOKHAVEN — St. Aloysius certainly came to play and gave the Brookhaven Academy Cougars their best shot in the first round of the MAIS Division II Playoffs. Brookhaven Academy won the match 1-0 Tuesday night. 

Kyndra Quinn scored the lone goal for Brookhaven Academy on a low shot in the dying seconds of the first half. Her goal was the only goal of the game although both teams arguably had great chances to score. 

St. Aloysius’s best chance of scoring came on a cross which bounced across the face of goal midway through the first half. No Flashes player was in position to get a foot on the ball and it went out for a goal kick. 

BA’s goalkeeper Elizabeth Durr, a seventh grader, said it was the most nerve-wracking moment of the match. Defensively, the Cougars worked hard to keep a clean sheet. 

“I was really nervous but excited. I was stressed out when it was 1-0. I thought we would score  more goals,” Durr said. “We ended up not letting them score, which is good. We still won the game and got it done. I’ve never experienced this before.”

St. Al’s goalkeeper Sarah Smith gave her team the best shot by making multiple saves over the course of the night. She was once a seventh grader like Durr playing in varsity matches. Defensively, St. Al frustrated the Cougars and had a player shadowing Quinn for most of the night. 

“St. Al is very strong defensively and they have an outstanding goalkeeper so they really made it difficult for us,” Brown said. “We had to make the game physical and turn up the intensity against them to get the job done.”

Durr started in goal this entire season due to a knee injury to senior keeper Ainsley Orr. Head Coach Alex Brown asked Durr if she wanted to play goalie when she first started playing two years ago as a fifth grader.

She didn’t know what she wanted to play back then but knew she wanted to play soccer. Orr has helped her grow as a goalie this year. Durr said she was expecting to have one more year to learn under Orr and didn’t plan for an injury to take Orr out of the season. 

“It will be different without her here. She is always telling me to dive for balls. I won’t hear it anymore next year,” Durr said. “I went to some camps this summer and learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot this season. At first, I wasn’t very good but I’ve improved a lot and Orr has helped me grow.”

She said one of the biggest lessons she learned from Orr is to have fun because if soccer isn’t fun then why play it. The advice has kept her from thinking about all of the people who are counting on her. 

Durr is also counting on two senior defenders in front of her, Ava Calcote and Matti Claire. They have been amazing this season on the backline and provide much needed experience and backbone to the team. 

‘I would probably pass out without them. I’m going to be sad with them gone next year. It is not going to be easy but I think someone else will step up,” Durr said.

St. Aloysius ramped up the pressure late in the match and had a few good looks at goal but could not get a shot on target at the end of the game. 

BA will host and play East Rankin Academy Thursday night with kickoff likely set for 6:30 p.m. in the South State Championship. It will be the first time BA’s girls team hosts the South State Championship in program history. East Rankin beat Oak Forest 8-0 Tuesday night. 

Durr said she is excited they will get to host the game and is looking forward to the experience. 

“We have improved a lot since we first started. We have a lot of other players here who have done good like Kyndra,” Durr said. “We have done good as a team.”