NWOAL TILT … Evergreen’s Kara Huntzinger and Wauseon’s Aizlynn Coronado battle for possession of the ball. (PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
By: Joe Blystone
METAMORA (September 14, 2023) – Anyone watching the chances each team had on the net would’ve thought there might have been ten goals in the Evergreen-Wauseon soccer game.
In a game that the Indians needed to win to stay in contention for a league title, and where the Vikings could stay atop in a mass fighting for a championship, both teams left frustrated as each tallied just once in a 1-1 tie.
“We definitely didn’t play to our potential tonight,” Evergreen coach Josh Radel expressed after the match.
“We didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we had and unfortunately an opportunity they had, they capitalized on it.”
Wauseon broke the ice with 20:41 to go in the first half, when a lack of communication in the Vikes back line on a ball down the left slot, left two defenders looking at each other and goalie Hannah Wilson way out of the net.
Abby Smith ended up with the loose ball with a wide-open look at much of an open net and proceeded to put the biscuit in the basket from inside the 10 to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.
“Sometimes in this game, unfortunately it’s one bad move and now you are sitting behind,” Radel said.
Evergreen had prime chances as Lydia Gleckler swooped in on Wauseon’s Madison Strain twice, but the Indian netminder stopped Gleckler one on one and then made an easy save as Gleckler’s shot went straight to her arms on the other.
“We are very fortunate to have her,” Wauseon coach Brandon Schroeder said of Strain. “She is quick, just those twitch reflexes.”
“She has always been right on and there is no one else we would trust more than her in the net for us.”
Radel echoed those statements.
“I felt we had two or three corners that should have been in the back of the net, their goalie just made some great saves, and we just didn’t capitalize when they would make a mistake.”
Teagan Rupp had a chance to extend the Wauseon margin with seven minutes left in the half when she split the defense and was going solo to the net but fired right of the goal.
With 3:59 to go, the VIkings got the equalizer on a set piece. Raegan Radel lofted a corner from the left of the net to the opposite side where Brooklyn Camacho nailed a one-timer to the short side to tie the match.
No one found the back of the mesh in the second half but not without opportunity from both teams.
Strain batted Radel’s blast with 32 left, then caught the rebound to keep the game even. Smith had the goalie beat with 25 to go and drilled a shot off the left post.
Evergreen had three golden chances in the last 20 minutes, but Gleckler didn’t get a clean shot while being checked in front, Kara Huntzinger’s header off a corner was saved by Strain and with six minutes left, and a scrum in front of the box was covered up by the Wauseon goalkeeper to again maintain the tie.
Wauseon had one last shot in the closing seconds, and again it was Smith. However, her rising bullet careened off the crossbar as the clock hit all zeroes to end the match.
“There’s a lot of firepower on both teams, two great teams out of the NWOAL,” Schroeder said after.
“We kind of ran out of time on that one in the end but it was a great matchup with a lot of talent across the field.”
Wauseon (5-1-2, 0-1-1 NWOAL) – Goal: Abby Smith; Assist: Teagan Rupp
Evergreen (7-0-2, 1-0-1 NWOAL) – Goal: Brooklyn Camacho; Assist: Raegan Radel
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com