NWOAL FINALE … Evergreen’s Kyla Risner works along the sideline with a Delta Lady Panther providing pressure. (PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
By: Joe Blystone
METAMORA (October 12, 2023) – Don’t ever say the final match of the regular season doesn’t mean anything!
With Bryan clinching the NWOAL soccer title at the end of last week, suddenly the Evergreen-Delta was, according to some…. meaningless. Again…don’t ever say the last game of the regular season doesn’t mean anything.
The two Fulton County rivals battled in a game that resembled an upcoming district advancement game, as the Vikings came from behind to mark a 3-2 win.
“This game had all kinds of hype,” said victorious coach Josh Radel. “It was for a spot above each other in the league, it was a game between teams that had a lot of pride on the line. All these girls stood up and said, ‘yeah we want this’. We went after a “W” tonight.”
Delta had a chance to go ahead in the first 60 seconds of the game, but Viking goalie Hannah Wilson tipped away Grace Munger’s attempt from the goal mouth.
With 30:25 left in the half, the Vikings made good on their first shot. Raegan Radel’s shot was blocked by a Panther defender but when the ball squirted toward the front of the net, Riley Studenka was right there to knock it in to give Evergreen a 1-0 lead.
“Riley came to us a little bit into the season,” Radel said of his highly improved sophomore. “The kid is a hustler, and she works extremely hard.”
“She knows that goals that aren’t pretty are just as important as any other goal and she knows that if you follow shots, there is a good chance you’ll get a goal like that.”
Nine minutes later, the Panthers quick strike offense delivered twice in the span of three minutes.
Munger, working left of the net from about 20 yards out made a move that backed off a Viking and smoked a rocket into the upper half over Wilson’s outstretched arm to knot the match with 21:43 on the clock.
Then with 18:33 left in the half, a Viking clearing pass got stuck in the wind and a sideways bounce made it a footrace that Delta’s Adrianna Dunning won by following her own touch into the net to put the Panthers up 2-1.
Another three minutes after that goal, the Vikes answered. Radel, with a corner kick from the right of the net, dropped a dime to Brooklyn Camacho who bumped in home at the 15:15 mark to knot the score.
After ten minutes ticked by the same combination in reverse chalked up what turned out to be the game winner when Camacho found Radel curling in from the right for a bullet that found the back of the net from the 20-yard line to make it 3-2 with 5:06 still left in the first.
Opportunity was few and far between in the second half. Wilson batted out a free kick attempt two minutes into the second and Ryllie Taylor did the same with a Viking free kick with 28 minutes left.
Radel had one more chance, but her high arcing shot was speared by Taylor halfway through the second 40 minutes.
Delta had an opportunity to knot the game with eight to go but Munger’s free kick attempt from just above the goal box went high.
“You know they had the wind at their back in the first half and we were playing into the wind in the first half and we did that on purpose,” Radel said.
“We hoped the wind would be at our back in the second and the wind died. I think we made a couple mistakes and maybe that’s because of the hype of the game.”
“This was as intense as a district game will be a couple weeks from now. Hopefully we take care of business on our end and then we see who advances out of three very good teams (Archbold, Delta and Ottawa Hills).”
For the game Taylor had seven saves and Wilson registered six.
Evergreen travels to Miller City for a Division III sectional final Thursday. Delta will host the winner of the Archbold-Ottawa Hills match in another sectional final in Division III on the same night.
Delta (3-2-1, 11-4-1 NWOAL) – Goals: Grace Munger, Adrianna Dunning; Saves: Ryllie Taylor 6
Evergreen (14-1-2, 4-1-1 NWOAL) – Goals: Riley Studenka, Brooklyn Camacho, Raegan Radel; Assist: Raegan Radel, Brooklyn Camacho; Saves: Hannah Wilson 7
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com