SEABURY ACADEMY'S ALEX NOLLER (20) takes a tumble after battling for possession of a loose ball during the Seahawks' game against Leavenworth Immaculata at the Youth Sports Inc. complex. Seabury fell, 5-0, in Tuesday's contest.

Blame Seabury Academy’s 5-0 girls soccer loss to Leavenworth Immaculata on the weather – the cause of soggy field conditions at Youth Sports Inc. on Tuesday, and the reason the Seahawks have been able to practice only once over the last 21â2 weeks.

Just don’t blame it on sophomore goalkeeper Arielle Spiridigliozzi, who played all 80 minutes in front of the net despite coming down with a stomach flu.

“I blocked a lot of potential goals,” Spiridigliozzi said. “I’m kind of glad I only let in five. My worst was nine, and last game I allowed in six. So I’m glad we allowed just five, and just kind of puking every now and then wasn’t so great.”

Immaculata easily could have reached the 10-goal mercy rule, but Spiridigliozzi, along with some solid – yet inconsistent – defensive help, was able to keep the deficit close until late in the game.

“She had a stellar game – especially battling through an upset stomach, which I wasn’t aware of until she started complaining,” Seabury coach Gunar Harmon said. “But she played through it, and you’ve got to be impressed with that.”

For Spiridigliozzi, the impressive play came not from her but from the defenders in front of her.

“Sun Young (Yoon) really stepped up because usually we have Melissa Burch playing back, and it was just really nice to have Sun Young step up and play,” Spiridigliozzi said. “She’s never really played a sweeper position the whole game, and we wanted to have more of an offensive game, so we put Melissa up as a forward. It was just kind of nice for Sun Young and Alina (Stout) and the rest of the freshmen to do a really good job.”

However, the first two goals were in large part due to defensive errors. The first, in the 13th minute, was because the ball wasn’t cleared properly, and the next came 43 minutes later when Immaculata was awarded a penalty kick after a hand-ball call went against a defender in the goalie box.

“The second goal might have been a back breaker, but it’s an involuntary action to raise your hand and slap at the ball at that situation,” Harmon said. “At 3-0, that’s probably when the heads started going down and the legs started to leave us.

“But I was pretty happy with the overall effort, we just couldn’t find the final pass … we just didn’t generate the final pass to get the chance.”

The lone chance Seabury had was from Bria Phipps with 11 minutes remaining, but the Seahawks’ only shot on goal was from too deep in the box and created a difficult angle.

In the end, Seabury didn’t score in its four home games this season.

“We’ve had to focus on keeping our better and stronger players back so that we’re able to keep most of the shots out of the goal,” said Liz Hughes, the only senior on the squad. “I think our offense is doing well; it’s just that they are having to run back to help but also have to maintain, to stay up and be able to be there when we kick it up. It’s not always going to be right to them, so it’s hard to estimate, I guess.”

With Immaculata’s top offensive players still pushing and a tired defense and goalie wearing down, the Raiders scored two more goals in the final 16 minutes.

Seabury is scheduled to play Overland Park Hyman Brand on Thursday at Satchel Paige Field – the current practice field for the Kansas City Wizards – on the Sprint Campus in Overland Park.