By BRIAN SHOEMAKER

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

After scoring 12 goals in its first two matches, the Quincy High School girls' soccer team proved its offensive potential.

Saturday afternoon, it was the defense's turn to show its mettle.

QHS tightened the screws on its defense, shutting down Bloomington in a 2-0 win to claim the Quincy Tournament title at Flinn Stadium.

"It's something we had to do," Blue Devils senior midfielder Jenny Dreasler said. "Coach (Sanders) was telling us we really needed to start picking it up, because they were driving it up the center. We just really needed to step up today to win the championship and make ourselves better as a team."

The Blue Devils (4-0) shut down the middle, where the Purple Raiders looked to advance the ball to attack. Led by Dreasler, Amy Schwartz and Taylor Nell among others, the QHS midfield led a defensive stand that allowed no Bloomington shots in the final 19 minutes.

The first 10 minutes of the match proved something needed to be done.

The Purple Raiders opened aggressively, finding Emily Kissel for a 15-yard shot that sailed over the crossbar. A pair of shots from Liz Ficek later went to the left and right of the net.

Other than a header from Danielle Stellino in the first 30 seconds, QHS struggled to equal Bloomington's output.

"Really we need to play a little bit better, we started out slow in the first half," QHS coach Bill Sanders said.

All it took to change that pace was a burst of speed from Hayley Womack.

Womack stole the ball from Bloomington's Sara Harmann in the backfield, broke away from the defense and faked past keeper Maggie Watkins for a goal with 26 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the first half.

Ten minutes later, Womack created an opening in the left corner, firing a cross to the far post, finding Casidy McClean and Nell. Nell's foot found the ball first and she punched in her first goal of the season.

"I was just running and the ball came through," Nell said. "Casidy and I got up and I shot it."

Bloomington opened the second half with four shots in the first 10 minutes, but never found the quality look needed to get past Quincy keeper Brittany Senator, who made four saves.

"We created a couple of things coming out of the midfield, but never finished it off in the final third with that one last pass or the planted foot for the powerful strike," Bloomington coach Tony Bauman said. "Everything was a weaker hit. Defensively, I thought we did alright. Really, we just had the two breakdowns in the first half."

On Monday, Quincy begins defense of its Western Big Six Conference title, hosting Galesburg at Flinn Stadium. Sanders said the Silver Streaks' speed will pose a challenge.

"They'll be quicker than some of the teams we've seen so far," Sanders said. "Plus, it's a conference game. We've won (the WB6) the past three years, so people are gunning for us. That's just something we've got to keep in mind to prepare ourselves and be ready for it."

As three-time defending champions, Dreasler doesn't want to the streak to stop with her senior campaign.

And defense is the key to that.

"We'll take it like any other game and we'll take it to them. This new system is something new for everyone," Dreasler said. "In the second half today we really brought it out and showed everyone what we're made of."

-- sports@whig.com/221-3365