WPSL North Lakes Conference Championship Review – Legacy prevail at the death
FC Milwaukee Torrent 2-2 St Croix Legacy (Legacy win 6-5 on penalty kicks) – Wednesday July 2nd – Uihlein Soccer Park, Milwaukee, WI
While it is not a road game for Torrent, the hosts are based at Uihlein Soccer Park in the north of Milwaukee rather than the more centrally located Hart Park. The 600-mile round trip for the visiting club is three times the longest road trip they had taken in divisional play.
Add to that, the Facility Director told the teams and WPSL that the lights needed to be off at 11:30pm and therefore the match skipped over the usual Extra Time (and any stoppage time) and straight from 90 mins to a penalty shootout.
There was an hour-long delay for lightning before the game even kicked off and the stormy silence was broken by a rough challenge on Leyla Kelbel in the Legacy box, resulting in a penalty kick in the 20th minute. Kelbel’s kick was stopped by Johnson but the ball dropped invitingly for the Wisconsinite, who tapped home the rebound.
Five minutes later, Ashlyn Skinner-Barrett broke free and added a second Torrent goal but Legacy were not to be rolled over. Torrent goalie Kate Hopma smothered an initial shot by Wren Van de Walker from the Legacy left but the ball is smuggled home by Amara Smith.
In the 67th minute, Legacy drove down the right, the ball was dribbled across and Wren Van de Walker added a goal to her earlier assist.
It would be last goal in open play as both sides played out a scoreless 20 minutes and then the ground rules got involved.
In the seventh round of PKs, defender Emily Hinze out of Mendota Heights, MN sidefooted the ball past Kate Hopma and the visitors prevailed. It was 11:35pm Central Time.
Speaking to us after the final whistle, St Croix Soccer Club Executive Director Nathan Klonecki said
With the time change, and the lightning delay and the halftime delay and down 0-2, (coming) back that is how they have been all year. It is fun to see that effort and desire pays off!
Coming Up…
St Croix take their place at the Central Regional table for the first time. The hosting assignment is rotated across the Conferences and this year falls with the Midwest Conference, whose winners were Oklahoma City FC. That means a bumper diet of football in the state, first on July 12 and 13th in OKC and then at the National Championships at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK the following weekend.