SYRACUSE - A 1-0 game with 16 minutes to play turned into a 4-2 loss for Wawasee's varsity girls soccer team Monday in Syracuse.
In the Northern Lakes Conference matchup with the Northridge Lady Raiders (9-1-3, 3-0-2 NLC), the Lady Warriors (5-5-2, 1-2 NLC) just wore down in the final stages of the game, having just four girls to bring off the bench."They have a lot of depth, so they're able to substitute girls in and out," Wawasee coach Dodd Cunningham said about the Raiders. "For us, without being able to substitute much, I think the girls are wearing down a little bit toward the end, mentally and physically."
As the minutes passed, Wawasee may have faded, but Northridge actually picked its pace up.
"What we brought in the first half was a product of us playing two games Saturday, and we're still recovering from that physically," Northridge coach Bill Redinger said. "The couple of goals Mallory (Rondeau) put in kind of excited us and we found that last bit of energy we had."
Rondeau scored her first goal with 15:58 left to play, and tied the game at 1-1.
Instead of celebrating, Cunningham was sure to let his girls know they needed to keep their intensity up. His warning was for good reason, as Northridge had an excellent shot for a goal 15 seconds later and freshman Brianne O'Dell did convert on a goal with 14:47 remaining.
"It's very disheartening, but it's so common," Cunningham said about giving up quick goals after his team scores. "Those are the easiest times to breakdown. You're happy, you just scored a goal and you're not focused on what you're supposed to be doing. It's tough for them to be out there and play physical for 80 minutes, for some girls, and stay focused that whole time."
After falling behind again, Rondeau scored her 19th goal of the season a minute after the O'Dell score, knotting the game up at 2-2.
For much of the match, Rondeau had trouble outrunning the Lady Raiders' defense, but eventually, she found her way to the goal.
"Our overall team speed is really good," Redinger said. "We don't play many teams that are faster than us."
That speed was on display in the final 10 minutes of the game, as senior Connie Smith scored in the 71st minute and freshman Lauren Blyly scored her second goal of the game six minutes later.
"We did exactly what we wanted to do tonight," Redinger said. "It didn't matter if it was 1-0, 10-0 or 4-2. We needed a win tonight to keep in our conference race and make sure we're staying even with everyone else."
A win over Northridge would have been a signature win for the Lady Warriors, but the lack of depth reared its head to the team which has no junior varsity this season.
"The first half was really good and the first (20 minutes) of the second half were good, but we kind of fell apart in the final 20 minutes," Cunningham said. "We had some breakdowns on defense and they got through us a little bit."
Wawasee travels to Plymouth for another NLC game Thursday.
