TOURNAMENT SOCCER … Delta’s Anna Lohman tries to keep the ball away from Swanton’s Madelaine Diaz during the Panthers 8-0 win over Swanton.
PHOTOS BY RACHEL NAGEL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
SWANTON DEFENDER … Mady Pelland controls possession in the first half of a Division V sectional final at Delta.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
DELTA (October 14, 2025) – Coaches always look for a fast start, especially in tournament games, but the start Delta got against Swanton in a Division V sectional girls soccer final was like watching Usain Bolt getting out of the blocks.
Abbey Todd scored 20 seconds into the game, and the Panthers kept piling on from there as they racked up an 8-0 win, shortened by the OHSAA eight-goal spread rule, to move on to Monday’s District game at Evergreen.
“Yeah, for sure,” Panther coach Paige Triana said when asked about the importance of getting out to a quick lead. “We actually have been on the receiving end of this, where we have gotten scored on several times in the first 15 minutes, and it was super frustrating.
“We really challenged the girls with ‘what type of post-season are we going to have’, how do we want to start this (post) season. They came out and scored in 20 seconds, so give them props. We just have to keep the pedal to the metal.”
Not only did Todd score a blur of a time into the contest, but she also added the Panthers’ second goal a very short time later.
Josie Maurer, Grace Maynhart, and Adrianna Dunning were soon to follow, as the Panthers opened up a 5-0 lead in the first 9:30 of the game.
Swanton goalie Ava Mohr saved another six Panthers’ attempts, but the shots kept coming. Just before the halfway point of the first half, McKenzie Kruger’s perfectly placed corner on the backside was drilled home by Dunning for a 6-0 lead.
Anna Lohman got into the act with 13:27 left in the half off Olivia Mohring’s feed near the top to make it 7-0.
“They were being super unselfish,” Triana said of the balance of her team. “They were moving the ball pretty well, all the things we try to work on through the year, and now it’s just kind of come together for us.”
The only drama left was whether the Panthers could decide the game by halftime. Mohr kept the sphere out of the net for the rest of the half, but at the start of the second half, Mohring turned a defender and rifled a shot into the top half of the net with 38:10 on the clock to end it.
The Panthers now face Liberty Center on Monday in the first game of the District, beginning at 5 p.m. at Evergreen.
Delta (11-6-1) – 11-6-1 Goals: Abbey Todd 2, Adrianna Dunning 2, Grace Maynhart, Josie Maurer, Anna Lohman, Olivia Mohring; Assists: Anna Lohman, Josie Maurer, Adrianna Dunning 4, McKenzie Krueger, Olivia Mohring
Swanton (3-14) – no statistics