Lady Vikings advance to next round with OT victory
With just over two minutes remaining in regulation, it looked like the AHSTW Vikings girls soccer team may be headed home early, but Junior Viking Claire Mertz saved the day when she kicked the ball from over 20 feet out, as it just barely went out of reach of Sophomore Rams goalkeeper Lucy Vander Linden to tie the game at three goals apiece. The Vikings would later win in overtime 4-3 for their second win of the season.
“Oh gosh, that was good,” said Viking Sophomore Halle Goodman of Mertz’s goal. “Everyone’s been yelling at her to shoot it from far, and her finally getting it in the back of the net, it was cool to see.”
The game started off with an early goal from Senior Ram Esther Van Horn just a little over two minutes into the action, which was followed by a game tying goal by Goodman less than a minute later.
Both sides went quiet on offense until Goodman added her second goal of the game, giving her team their first lead of the night at 2-1.
“She has one heck of a left leg, so she could definitely shoot from afar on those corners,” Mertz said of Goodman. “We’re very lucky to have her on our team. She’s only a sophomore and she has so many years ahead of her to go, so she’ll continue to keep going and get better.”
Within 10 minutes of Goodman’s second goal, Van Horn added another two goals to turn the tables on the Vikings, giving the Rams a 3-2 lead at halftime.
“Beth [Herbst] has definitely said to us the whole season to never give up, and our bodies can do amazing things,” Mertz said. “We definitely showed that I think by never giving up, and we pushed through for sure.”
When the second half began, both teams continued to exchange passes, but nothing came of it until Mertz saved the Vikings season with her game tying goal to force the game into overtime.
The Vikings went through a quiet first overtime period, and it looked like they were headed for a second scoreless overtime until Sophomore Alondra Vargas connected for a goal giving the Vikings the victory, and punching their ticket to the next round of the playoffs.
“I was thinking one of these has to go in,” Mertz added. “Keep crashing, we got it, and the ball went in, it was a great feeling all around.”
They will be taking on the 13-2 Underwood Eagles Wednesday on the road at 7 p.m. in the Class 1A – Region 6 Tournament Game. The Eagles are led by Tieler Hull with 20 goals, Raegan Ward with nine assists, and goalkeeper Avery Honan with 34 assists.
“We just need to keep our heads up,” Goodman said. “We can’t go in thinking we’re going to lose. We’ve just got to believe in ourselves and I think we can compete with them.”