WPSL Wrap Up: Week 7/8
This Week
Wednesday
Manitou FC 0-1 Salvo
Katherine Jones struck the deciding blow, a rocket from twenty yards out, to give Salvo a win.
St Louis Scott Gallagher 2-0 Sunflower State FC
After a short trip across Missouri, from the Kansas border to the Illinois border, the visitors returned home with nothing to show for their neat passing, albeit with no end product. SLSG went ahead in the twenty-seventh minute, a free kick curled from twenty yards out past the Sunflower keeper and into the top corner of the net by Hannah Larson. Aubrey Mister leant a deserved gloss to the performance by bursting away from a Sunflower State attack on the edge of her own area and sprinting all the way down the other end to score.
Thursday
Kansas City Scott Gallagher 3-0 AFC Columbia
Keegan Good (who also picked up an assist) in the first half, Monica Brauner and Abby Hanson in the second half on the scoresheet for KCSG.
Friday
St Croix Legacy 7-0 Dakota Fusion
St Croix took the lead when Fusion keeper Quinn Carter came out to the edge of her area to sweep a ball clear but only succeeded in clearing the ball to Clare Cater, who chipped it past her and into the net in the fifteenth minute. In the forty-third minute, Carter once more came out to a long ball and the defender and goalie collided with an onrushing attacker, Anna Wagner, who tapped it in. Jenna Hallen put a shot on target and it was deflected home on an attempted goal line clearance for 3-0 in the fifty-ninth minute. Madison Gaffney hammered home the fourth goal of the game from outside the area off the near post in the sixty-third minute. Cater claimed her second only two minutes later, passing a ball from the left back position into the left hand side netting past Carter. Wagner connected on another long ball in behind to pick up her second of the day, and number six overall. Jordyn Jeffers made it 7-0 in the seventy-sixth minute, blasting a ball home from outside the area.
Sioux Falls City 3-0 Manitou FC
After devolving into SFC attack versus Manitou defense, Lourdes Moreno put City ahead in the fortieth minute, picking up a pass from McKenna Lehman before slotting the ball inside the near post from the top of the area. At half time, Barbie Castellanos was withdrawn because the referee identified that Sioux Falls City had played the first half with one too many player on their bench (and thus, in a league with unlimited re-entry, playing).
City made it 2-0 in the fifty-fourth minute as Kaylie Rock wrapped her foot around a ball at the top of the penalty box and drove it into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Rylee Haldeman basically scored a mirror image in the seventy-first minute, off a Jozy Bardsley pass. This game was the last ever competitive match for South Dakotan Hailee Fischer in net for Sioux Falls City.
Midwest Muskrats 0-4 Milwaukee Torrent
Torrent secured their Divisional title and a spot in the playoffs with a routine win over a struggling Muskrat team. Lainey Higgins opened the scoring with a free kick 22 yards out from goal, hammered into the roof of the net. Another firmly struck shot made it 2-0 from Adrianna Alberts. It was 3-0 just before the half as Camryn Ries slotted home.
Sofia Miranda completed the win with a nutmeg of the goalkeeper at her near post in the sixtieth minute.
KICS fall in this match and thus miss out on a chance to play the Torrent in what would have essentially been a play-in scenario, and is now academic. Hallie Peak and Reegan Hess got the goals for Raptors. Katelyn Robinson got the sole goal for the visitors.
It took Salvo until midway through the first half to break through but it was mostly a matter of the home side getting their rhythm and Katelyn Beulke eventually provided the pass from the right for Meredith Haakenson to tap home. In the thirty-sixth minute, Khyah Harper provided the finish on the break, striking firmly past the Rochester keeper.
The third goal came from an Emily Heslin free kick, 30 yards out on the right wing, tapped home by Harper after a close control in the six yard box in the fiftieth minute. A cross from the right was converted by Madison Ishaug in the fifty-fifth minute for 4-0. The fifth and final goal was a tap in by Loretta Wacek after a goalmouth scramble.
Saturday
Columbus Eagles 9-0 FC Spirit
Alivia Milesky, Gabi Hollar and two goals from Victoria Kevdzija in the opening half-hour put the Eagles well on the way to a spot in the playoffs. Lacey Bethea found Sydney Worthy for 5-0 in the 37th minute.
It was 6-0 early in the second half as Haley Miller tapped home. Bethea curled one into the top left corner of the goal from the edge of the area in the sixty-fifth minute. Annalise Grammel set up Katie Cox in the eighty-eighth minute for the eighth goal. Cox made it 9-0 in the ninetieth minute, flicking the ball home from short range.
Sunflower State FC 3-0 Lou Fusz
A backheeled pass by Mackenzie DiMarco across the top of the area led to a howitzer from Thayline Teixeira for a 1-0 lead to Sunflower in the twenty-fifth minute. Then there was some late action, with goals in the eighty-ninth and ninety-second minutes from Renee Berak and DiMarco respectively.
KC Courage 6-1 Kansas City Scott Gallagher
KC Courage secured the win and the playoff spot on the birthday of Courage coach Candice Fabry.
Having slowly racheted up the pressure, Courage went ahead in the seventeenth minute through Raheal Akaety’s close range finish. KCSG had a solid chance in the twenty-fifth minute, but the keeper smothered it. KCC had a strong shout for a PK turned down in the thirty-second minute. They made it 2-0 in first half stoppage time, Courtney Claassen nearly breaking the net after a succession of chances in the area.
Kaira Houser scored the fourth goal on the break in the fifty-fifth minute. Another breakaway five minutes later by Addison Steiner made it four. It was 5-0 after Akaety headed home following head tennis from a short corner on the right in the sixty-fifth minute. KCSG got one back in the seventy-eighth minute as Caroline Carter connected on a left wing cross, pounding it back across the keeper. Another counter attack goal, this time by Houser , made it 6-1 in second half stoppage time.
Dayton Dutch Lions 0-6 FC Dayton
FC Dayton opened the derby scoring in the seventeenth minute, as an FCD attacker was body checked in the penalty area. Laney Huber converted the PK. Huber doubled the lead three minutes later, finishing a flowing move which started in their own penalty area. In the forty-third minute, Natalie Hegg finished off a rebound to make it 3-0.
Diana Benigno kickstarted the second half for FCD in a big way, rocketing a ball into the roof of the net from 25 yards out. Another PK was called in the fifty-eighth minute, as another attack was brought to an abrupt halt in the area, but the DDL keeper stepped up and stopped it. Alisa Arthur made it 5-0 on the hour mark, sweeping home from the middle of the area after a midfield interception. Abbi Maier completed the rout in the seventieth minute, blasting home from the edge of the area.
Sunday
Milwaukee Torrent 5-0 Chicago KICS
This match ended up not being the divisional showdown that it was looking like it would be, but Torrent decided to go into their home playoff match swinging. Adrianna Alberts opened the scoring in the eleventh minute, lobbing the goalkeeper from twenty yards out, like a golfer with a wedge. Katie Swenson from thirty-five yards out lasered a shot over the goalkeeper in the forty-fifth minute, to make it 2-0.
Greta Hanson scored the third goal, dribbling through contact and benefiting from a deflection off the keeper back into her path, in the seventieth minute. Lola Wojcik made it 4-0 in the seventy-ninth minute, dribbling through the middle before tapping home, falling down, from the penalty spot. Liesel Odden completed the scoring in the eighty-second minute, from seven yards out in the middle.
Quad Cities Rush 2-2 Iowa Raptors
Rush and Raptors play to a tie. Emily Bollman picked up both goals for Quad Cities, one from a PK and one from a Colleen Rumpza assist. Brynn Jacobi set up both Raptors goals, with Alexis Vasquez and Madisyn Hunt providing the finishes.
Wednesday 7/5
Sunflower State FC 0-2 Kansas City Scott Gallagher
This game was goal less through the first half, but Reiss Wood broke the deadlock in the seventy-fifth minute. A neat exchange of close passes led to a shot from just outside the penalty arc, swept inside the left-hand post. A ball in from the left was tapped home by Kate Gibson to make it 2-0 in the eighty-third minute, a harsh reflection of a relatively equal game.
Saturday
AFC Columbia 0-2 Lou Fusz
Lou Fusz scored the opening goal of the game through Emily Gaebe, in the seventh minute, who spun around and volleyed the ball into the goal from the top of the penalty area after a right wing corner was recycled and a first shot was blocked. Solid defending from AFCC held the visitors to one more goal, an eighty-seventh minute own goal.
Coming Up – Playoffs:
They start tonight, so strap in.
This is the only time of year when we pay attention to the Mountain Conference.
Colorado Rapids Women will play Utah Avalanche for the Mountain Conference, in a repeat of last year’s mountain mash. 7pm MT kickoff.
FC Milwaukee Torrent will play Columbus Eagles FC for the Midwest Conference crown. 7pm CT kickoff.
For more on these match-ups, go here
The Heartland winners KC Courage gets a bye as winner of a conference with no divisions. Northern winners Minnesota Thunder have declined their invite because of player availability, so someone else will get their bye (since the North also only has one division).