Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
COLUMBIA CITY -ÊSaturday was just like any other average fall evening when the Warsaw and Homestead girls soccer teams took the field for the sectional final game in Columbia City. Then the rain came. And the thunder. And most importantly, the lightning.
The Tigers fell to a tough Homestead Spartan team 3-0, but the weather conditions stole the show.
Warsaw held Homestead scoreless for the first 10 minutes, but then the Tigers were called for a violation. Homestead was awarded a penalty kick, and with 29:48 left, Jessica Dierckman slipped a goal past Liz Wiggins to put the Spartans up 1-0.
"They were not killing us at the goal at all," said Warsaw coach Brent Wildman. "In my opinion, the officials made a discretionary call. They got the penalty shot, the free ball. It was unfortunate for us."
Then with 1:59 remaining in the half, the officials spotted lightning rolling toward the field and suspended the game. After nearly an hour delay, the teams came back to the field to play the last two minutes of the half as rain continued to sprinkle the playing surface.
In that last two minutes, Homestead managed to capitalize on some Warsaw lineup changes and score a goal with 1:15. Erin Zgonc scored on a Jessica Dierckman assist to put the Spartans up 2-0 going into the second half.
"With two minutes left, we had to start up again," said Wildman. "That's a terrible situation to be in. It sucked the energy right out of us.
"We pulled Holly McGriff out of the game during the delay because she was injured. We made the adjustments, but just missed a few marks in that two minute period."
Due to the earlier delay in the game, halftime was reduced to two minutes, and then the teams took the field again.
After the teams took the field, the spinrkle turned into a shower. As the game progressed, the shower turned into an all-out rain and the players used the wet conditions as an excuse to get more physical.
However, Warsaw held Homestead scoreless for the majority of the second half. The Spartans scored their first and only goal of the half with 6:13 left on the clock. Carly Everett sent a pass from Melissa Moriarty into the net for Homestead's last goal of the evening, giving the Spartans a 3-0 win over the Tigers.
"Homestead scored two goals on unfortunate circumstances in the first half," said Wildman. "They have a different style of play. It took us a while to adjust to that, but we did pretty well after the first 10 minutes. From then on we played fairly well.
"Homestead is just more experienced and capitalized on our mistakes.
An emotional Warsaw team sat at the sidelines as Wildman spoke with them after the game. Then as the team left the bench to talk with their parents, the coach embraced his daughter Jodi, a senior, after their last high school soccer game together.
Warsaw finished the season 8-5-4.
HOMESTEAD 3, WARSAW 0
Homestead 2 1 - 3
Warsaw 0 0 - 0
First half
29:48 -ÊJessica Dierckman goal (penalty kick), 1-0 H
1:15 -ÊErin Zgonc goal (Jessica Dierckman assist), 2-0
Second half
6:13 -ÊCarly Everett goal (Melissa Moriarty assist), 3-0 H
