Marian Ends Warriors' Soccer Season
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
VALPARAISO - The Wawasee girls soccer team ran into a buzzsaw Saturday morning in the form of Mishawa Marian.
The Knights, led by five Division I soccer players, scored three second half goals and won 5-0 to advance to the Valparaiso semistate final where they fell to Portage 2-1 Saturday night.
Marian jumped out on top early when Rachel Byron scored off an Erin Davis assist in the 18th minute to go up 1-0.
An offside call took a potential Wawasee goal off the board then Marian put the match out of reach when they scored with just 46 seconds left in the first half.
Byron intercepted a ball that Wawasee was trying to clear in its own end and tucked the ball into the back of the net to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
"I think it affected us," said Wawasee coach Dodd Cunningham of Byron's late goal. "This season we've never been down 2-0 at any point let alone in the first half and to a caliber of opponent like Marian. So I do think it affected us."
Davis got a goal of her own in the 43rd minute to push Marian's lead to 3-0.
Another Byron, Rachel's sister Jessica got on the board in the 57th minute gave the Knights a 4-0 lead on a beautiful teardrop shot that curved right over the outstretched arms of Wawasee goalie Kylee Ort.
While Ort had a tough day in goal for Wawasee, she still looked impressive in her eight saves. Her counterpart, Marian's Ashleigh Lemp had five saves.
Lemp will be playing college soccer next season at the University of Southern Indiana. Both Byron sisters will play at Miami (Ohio), Davis will play at Louisville and Taryn Zimmerman will attend the University of Indianapolis on a soccer scholarship.
Marian coach Carlos Reynolds felt like his team came out focused and didn't deviate from their plan.
Reynolds also believed that the Bryon goal in the 40th minute changed the scope of the game.
"That was huge," said Reynolds. "It changes the whole perspective when something like that happens.
Jordan Ludwig capped the scoring for Marian with four seconds left to give the Knights their 5-0 win.
While Wawasee fell, the Warriors do return most of their squad next year. Wawasee graduates just three seniors off of this year's squad. Larissa Lemaitre, Megan Walker and Alexa Ganz are the upperclassmen of this year's Wawasee squad.
The Knights were led Saturday and most of the year by their senior sister combo of the Byron's. The two combined to score 49 goals on the season with Jessica scoring 26 and Rachel scoring 23.
The Knights had 13 shots on goal to just five for Wawasee. Marian also earned five corners to Wawasee's two.
Until its Portage match, Marian outscored its opponents in the postseason by a count of 15-1.
"Defensively our girls played strong," said Cunningham. "They worked hard. We made some mistakes and Marian took advantage. They were able to work around us pretty well."
Despite the loss Cunningham is pleased with what his team accomplished this year and optimistic about what his team will be able to do in the future.
"We set some goal this year and accomplished a lot of them. We did set the goal of (winning) sectional but to get ourselves to semistate is beyond what a lot of those girls were expecting," said Cunningham. "With only losing three seniors, we'll be back here next year."
Saturday was Wawasee's first girls soccer semistate appearance. The Warriors also won their first sectional and regional in school history this year.
The Warriors finished their season with a record of 14-3-4 overall.
MISHAWAKA MARIAN 5, WAWASEE 0
(Scoring)
M - Rachel Byron (Erin Davis) 18th minute
M - Byron (unassisted) 40th minute
M - Davis (unassisted) 44th minute
M - Jessica Byron (unassisted) 57th minute
M - Jordan Ludwig (unassisted) 80th minute
Shots on goal -ÊMarian 12, Wawasee 5
Corners -ÊMarian 5, Wawasee 2
Saves - Ashleigh Lemp (Marian) 5, Kylee Ort (Wawasee) 8 [[In-content Ad]]
VALPARAISO - The Wawasee girls soccer team ran into a buzzsaw Saturday morning in the form of Mishawa Marian.
The Knights, led by five Division I soccer players, scored three second half goals and won 5-0 to advance to the Valparaiso semistate final where they fell to Portage 2-1 Saturday night.
Marian jumped out on top early when Rachel Byron scored off an Erin Davis assist in the 18th minute to go up 1-0.
An offside call took a potential Wawasee goal off the board then Marian put the match out of reach when they scored with just 46 seconds left in the first half.
Byron intercepted a ball that Wawasee was trying to clear in its own end and tucked the ball into the back of the net to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
"I think it affected us," said Wawasee coach Dodd Cunningham of Byron's late goal. "This season we've never been down 2-0 at any point let alone in the first half and to a caliber of opponent like Marian. So I do think it affected us."
Davis got a goal of her own in the 43rd minute to push Marian's lead to 3-0.
Another Byron, Rachel's sister Jessica got on the board in the 57th minute gave the Knights a 4-0 lead on a beautiful teardrop shot that curved right over the outstretched arms of Wawasee goalie Kylee Ort.
While Ort had a tough day in goal for Wawasee, she still looked impressive in her eight saves. Her counterpart, Marian's Ashleigh Lemp had five saves.
Lemp will be playing college soccer next season at the University of Southern Indiana. Both Byron sisters will play at Miami (Ohio), Davis will play at Louisville and Taryn Zimmerman will attend the University of Indianapolis on a soccer scholarship.
Marian coach Carlos Reynolds felt like his team came out focused and didn't deviate from their plan.
Reynolds also believed that the Bryon goal in the 40th minute changed the scope of the game.
"That was huge," said Reynolds. "It changes the whole perspective when something like that happens.
Jordan Ludwig capped the scoring for Marian with four seconds left to give the Knights their 5-0 win.
While Wawasee fell, the Warriors do return most of their squad next year. Wawasee graduates just three seniors off of this year's squad. Larissa Lemaitre, Megan Walker and Alexa Ganz are the upperclassmen of this year's Wawasee squad.
The Knights were led Saturday and most of the year by their senior sister combo of the Byron's. The two combined to score 49 goals on the season with Jessica scoring 26 and Rachel scoring 23.
The Knights had 13 shots on goal to just five for Wawasee. Marian also earned five corners to Wawasee's two.
Until its Portage match, Marian outscored its opponents in the postseason by a count of 15-1.
"Defensively our girls played strong," said Cunningham. "They worked hard. We made some mistakes and Marian took advantage. They were able to work around us pretty well."
Despite the loss Cunningham is pleased with what his team accomplished this year and optimistic about what his team will be able to do in the future.
"We set some goal this year and accomplished a lot of them. We did set the goal of (winning) sectional but to get ourselves to semistate is beyond what a lot of those girls were expecting," said Cunningham. "With only losing three seniors, we'll be back here next year."
Saturday was Wawasee's first girls soccer semistate appearance. The Warriors also won their first sectional and regional in school history this year.
The Warriors finished their season with a record of 14-3-4 overall.
MISHAWAKA MARIAN 5, WAWASEE 0
(Scoring)
M - Rachel Byron (Erin Davis) 18th minute
M - Byron (unassisted) 40th minute
M - Davis (unassisted) 44th minute
M - Jessica Byron (unassisted) 57th minute
M - Jordan Ludwig (unassisted) 80th minute
Shots on goal -ÊMarian 12, Wawasee 5
Corners -ÊMarian 5, Wawasee 2
Saves - Ashleigh Lemp (Marian) 5, Kylee Ort (Wawasee) 8 [[In-content Ad]]