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 At half time, Barbie Castellanos was withdrawn because the referee identified that Sioux Falls City had played the first half with one too many player on their bench (and thus, in a league with unlimited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).
WPSL Wrap Up: Week 6
This Week
Wednesday
Rochester United 0-9 Minnesota Thunder
The North's leaders got off to a storming start, with Paige Kalal converting an Olimpico from the left after only ninety seconds. Thunder continued to press but United had a chance to equalize in the eleventh minute, Samara Nunn seizing on a lax back pass towards the keeper but she was unable to control the shot and it blazed high. Kaitlyn MacBean made it 2-0 in the nineteenth minute with a delicate ball across the goal and off the inside of the far post following neat buildup down the left. The hosts had their own moments of composed possession and passing, without really threatening the goal. Kendall Stadden belted Thunder into a three goal lead in the forty-third minute, from the middle of the box on the left side across into the top right hand corner of the Rochester net.
MacBean made the score 4-0 early in the second half and then Paige Peltier headed the ball home from a corner in the fifty-eighth minute to make it 5-0. She repeated the trick only a minute later. Taylor Heimerl volleyed the seventh goal in the sixty-second minute, off a searching cross from the right to the top of the box. Stadden picked up her second of the game in the eighty-fifth minute, turning into a shot from the top of the box. Stadden then completed her hat trick with the last kick of the game, a firmly placed shot, also from the top of the penalty area.
Thursday
Kansas City Scott Gallagher 0-2 KC Courage
A free kick from deep in midfield was allowed to bounce and skip its way past the KCSG keeper for Aya Saiki to make it 1-0 in the 35th minute. Courage made it 2-0 through Gail Logan, tapping home from close range in the 42nd minute after a long, raking ball down the right wing resulted in a scramble for possession.
Friday
Dayton Dutch Lions 0-3 FC Pride
For a Dayton Dutch Lions side who only have one point all season, the game couldn't really have begun much worse. In the seventeenth minute, a Pride attacker was dragged back, inches from the penalty area. Paige Miller finished off the free kick, round the wall and into the bottom left corner and the defender, Suzy Hayes was given a red card for denial of a goal scoring opportunity. In the twenty-fifth minute, the lead was doubled after a cross from right on the endline was tapped home by Miller.
The game entered a lengthy injury break midway through the second half, which saw extensive treatment on the pitch-side running track and the eventual departure of an injured Dutch Lion, Tenley Mcnutt, in an ambulance.
Eleven versus ten is a tough assignment under the best circumstances, but a 37+ minute delay and the departure of an injured player always tends to make such restarts somber and tense affairs. The clock kept running, which will make any references to time in the remainder of this piece look very odd.
Pride scored their third goal in the ninety-fifth minute, Dana Fish with the smart finish from close in. The clock read 122 minutes when the referee blew for full time. My thanks to Brian at Gem City Sports Network for his assistance keeping track of this most unusual of games.
Mankato United 1-5 Rochester United
The Highway 14 Cup comprehensively went the way of the visitors. Sienna Latta opened the scoring in the seventeenth minute, the last player to make contact after Rochester United's fifth corner pinballed around the box. Mankato called for a handball on Latta's control, but it was denied. RU dominated possession but were unable to widen the score margin until first half stoppage time. Briana Johnson clipped a right wing pass home at the near post. Another right wing pass only a minute later was finished by Franciele Cupertino for 3-0 almost immediately before half-time.
Abby Rieff claimed Mankato's only goal early in the second half, off an Olivia Thoen pass. Latta got a gift in the fifty-second minute as the ball deflected right into her path on the goal line. She tapped home for 4-1. MUSC pushed their opposition more in the second half, but it was Rochester United who found the finishing touch - in the eighty sixth minute through Samara Nunn.
MapleBrook Fury 1-1 Joy Athletic Club
Paige Goaley broke the deadlock for the home team in the thirty-third minute, volleying home from the top of the box. Joy found their equalizer in the eighty-third minute from Aliviah McClinton.
Sioux Falls City 2-1 Dakota Fusion
A 2-1 hammering, with the home side dominating possession and Quinn Carter in the Fusion goal arguably the player of the match. Juni Ejere opened the scoring for City in the seventh minute, taking on a defender successfully on the left before placing the ball past the diving Carter into the bottom right corner. Ejere turned provider in the seventeenth minute, setting up a tap in from Rylee Haldeman, who beat a sliding defender to the goal. Blayke Hurley halved the deficit in the forty-second minute, a snap shot going through the hands of Hailee Fischer.
Ejere hammered a ball in the sixty-fifth minute but Carter tipped it on to the crossbar, in the best chance City had in the second half. Chloe Allen also hit the outside post in the eighty-sixth minute and Barbie Castellanos had a late shout for a PK turned down.
Saturday
AFC Columbia 0-6 Kansas City Scott Gallagher
With 31 goals conceded in their first six matches, Columbia made a surprisingly robust start to this match. However, KCSG broke through in the forty-third minute - Monica Brauner dribbling through the defense in the penalty area before slotting the ball home from midway in the box.
The visitors doubled their lead in the fiftieth minute, Adriana Benassi powering one home from the edge of the penalty area. The third goal, in the sixty-third minute, was a spinning shot from the top of the box which snuck inside of the left hand post through traffic by Kate Gibson . In the seventy-fifth minute, it was 4-0 as Gibson drove one past the diving keeper from the outer edge of the box. It was 5-0 in the eighty-sixth minute after Hailey Palmer finished off a neat exchange of passes into the penalty area. The final goal came in the 90th minute , Palmer finishing smartly from a pass into the area.
Sunflower State FC 1-3 St Louis Scott Gallagher
Mackenzie DiMarco opened the scoring for Sunflower, slotting home after a break down the left in the eighth minute. SLSG equalized from a left wing corner in the sixteenth minute, tapped home at close range by Leah Selm . The go-ahead goal for the visitors was struck with fury from just outside the area by Izzy Patterson in the 60th minute. Seven minutes later it was 3-1 after the Sunflower goalkeeper misjudged a long ball and Hannah Larson tapped into the empty net.
Midwest Muskrats 2-2 Iowa Raptors
A turnover in midfield and a through pass down the left wing set up Kelly Schaffer to chip the ball into the roof of the Raptors net for a 1-0 Muskrat lead. The equalizer came in the fourteenth minute after a ball was blasted into the hands of a Muskrat defender from close range for a PK to be harshly awarded. The equalizer was converted from the spot by Jessica Reinhardt. Raptors took the lead in the twenty-first minute in almost the same fashion as the Schaffer goal, Eliza Evans the scorer. Olivia Shaw spun the equalizer in the twenty-sixth minute over the goalkeeper from 30 yards out.
Quad Cities Rush 3-0 Chicago KICS
Emily Bollman broke the deadlock for the struggling QC Rush and it was 1-0 heading into the half time break. The match entered a lightning delay in the eighty-seventh minute. Bollman finished the game with two goals and the other goal was scored by Colleen Rumpza. Once again, Allison Mirimanian racked up the saves in goal for Rush. We believe this is Rush's first win in the WPSL (in their second season), and it puts a spanner in KICS' season, where they are fighting with Milwaukee Torrent on 12 points for the one playoff berth from the Lake Michigan division of the Midwest Conference.
Sunday
Dakota Fusion 0-11 Minnesota Thunder
I was gonna say "it brings me no joy" to report another hammering of Fusion, but that's not true. The truth is, there were no howlers by Fusion in this game, only spotless football by Thunder.
The scoring began in the third minute, after relentless pressure from kick off resulted in a shot in at the near post by Kaitlyn MacBean. Two minutes later, a pass centrally was finished by Paige Peltier from close range. Fusion had a good chance in the fifteenth minute but the counter attack shot did not go in. At the other end, Quinn Carter once again stopped a few shots, but the vast offensive pressure of possession remained with Thunder. In the nineteenth minute, Peltier grabbed her second on a tap in after MacBean broke away and set her up. MacBean had another good chance to add to the score, but the ball across the six yard box was not finished. Carter stopped a MacBean chance at point blank in the twenty-sixth. Taylor Heimerl (the 2022-23 Gatorade Minnesota Girls Soccer Player of the Year) made it 4-0 in the twenty-eighth minute, a curler from the right back spot into the goal. Only four minutes later, a Kalal corner from the right was scored by MacBean to make it five.
In the fourty-eighth minute, MacBean scored number six (and her hat trick) from a PK after a hard challenge on the edge of the area. Peltier secured her hat trick with a finish from the top of the area after a defensive clearance dropped to her, in the fiftieth minute. In the fifty-seventh minute, Morgan Bachelor connected with a Kalal cross and put it into her own net (although the match report credits MacBean with her fourth, so we'll go with that). In the eightieth minute, MacBean spun on the top of the area and made it 9-0. After a Fusion attack, MacBean led a counter and slotted home her sixth in the eighty-fourth minute. Finally, in the eighty-seventh minute, MacBean headed home a Kalal corner from the right for her seventh.
A final note on Kaitlyn MacBean: Having begun her Summer scoring for MN Aurora in USL W League, she now has the most goals in the entire 131 team WPSL, with 13 goals overall and 6 assists. In my years of watching games at this level, I cannot recall another player scoring goals in different amateur leagues in the same season.
Mankato United 0-4 Salvo
Salvo dominated possession in the torrential rain of Mankato but only scored once in the first half, Khyah Harper cleaning up a rebound in the middle of the box with seven minutes on the clock.
Harper hit the ball firmly from around the penalty spot early in the second half, down off the underside of the crossbar to make it two. Ansley Atkinson drove the ball into the box and powered it home in the sixty-first minute for a 3-0 scoreline. Ava Stanchina had a chance for United on the break but the snap shot went wide. Atkinson took a deep free kick and curled it into the goal for the fourth goal in the eighty-third minute.
MapleBrook Fury 0-1 Sioux Falls City
Sioux Falls take all three from a challenging road trip, McKenna Lehman with a blazing strike from the top of the area into the top right hand corner of the goal in the thirty-third minute.
Lainey Huber led a counter attack for Dayton and took the goal herself, after only six minutes. Dara Russo made it 2-0 with a strike from the edge of the area in the fifteenth minute, FCD having intercepted the ball from Abby Townsend in midfield. Townsend cut in from the right wing and answered back immediately. Abby Townsend came steaming down the right wing in the twenty-fifth minute and crossed the ball teasingly onto the foot of Amy King. Kylee Simmons went right back up the other end and made it 3-2 with a blazing shot from the left hand edge of the penalty area. Gaby Hollar hit the post for the Eagles.
Hollar equalized from a sizzling cross into the six yard box by Townsend early in the second half. Nicki Cox almost immediately put Columbus on top. Townsend made it 5-3, pounding the ball in at the near post from a Cox pass through the defense. Huber got the fourth for FCD but they could not escape their first loss of the season.
Milwaukee Torrent 6-0 Iowa Raptors
Alexa Maletis finished a Maddy Celarek cross into the six yard box to make it 1-0 to the Torrent in the seventh minute. Elsi Twombly scored the second goal in the nineteenth minute, off a Lainey Higgins pass down the middle. Twombly scored again, two minutes later with a towering header from a right wing corner. Raptors had a shout for a PK but the referee instead gave a free kick right on the right edge of the area and it went over the goal. Sofia Miranda made it 4-0 in the thirty-fifth minute, blasting home from close range.
Lauren Hernandez scored the fifth goal, in the fifty-fifth minute, via a substantial deflection from a defender. Alexa Maletis scored off a rebound with virtually the last kick of the match.
Tuesday
Joy Athletic Club 1-6 Mankato United
Only fifty-five seconds into the match, Ella Huettl made it 1-0 to the visitors as she connected on a pass from the left wing. Dare Kroeten had a chance for Joy in the thirteenth minute, but the cross-shot failed to be either. Another left wing cross in the twenty-first minute was deflected via an attempted interception in the six yard box for Huettl to pick up her second goal of the match. It was 3-0 in the thirty-second minute as center-back Libby Spangler connected with a ball played back to her, more than forty yards from goal, chipping the goalkeeper and settling in the top left corner of the net. In first half stoppage time, it was Madeline Hobbs's turn to join the scoring, volleying the ball home after a quick throw-in sprung an attack down the right wing and the pass was drawn into the middle of the box.
An Ella Bryant shot was parried up and away by Mackenzie Rath in the United goal in the fifty-third minute, but the corner came to nothing. Ten minutes later, a counter attack set up Annelise Winch for the fifth goal. Jessica Bartz was called for a PK in the seventy-third minute on a mis-timed slide tackle, and Aubrey Bahl converted it to make the score 6-0. Joy would have their own shout for a PK but a handball was unsuccessfully argued for. Mankato had a final flourish denied them in second half stoppage time as a header was flagged offside. Going the other way, Samantha Mcgurgan blasted the ball off the underside of the crossbar and Kroeten was able to tap the ball in.
Coming Up
Tonight
Minnesota Thunder v MapleBrook Fury - 7pm CT
Rochester United v St Croix Legacy - 7pm CT
Manitou FC v Salvo - 7pm CT
St Louis Scott Gallagher v Sunflower State FC - 7pm CT
Thursday
Kansas City Scott Gallagher v AFC Columbia - 7:30pm CT
Friday
St Croix Legacy v Dakota Fusion - 4pm CT
Sioux Falls City v Manitou FC - 6pm CT
Midwest Muskrats v Milwaukee Torrent - 7pm CT
Iowa Raptors v Chicago KICS - 7pm CT
Salvo v Rochester United - 7pm CT
Saturday
Columbus Eagles v FC Spirit - 12pm ET
Sunflower State FC v Lou Fusz - 2pm CT
KC Courage v Kansas City Scott Gallagher - 2pm CT
Dayton Dutch Lions v FC Dayton - 3pm ET
Sunday
Milwaukee Torrent v Chicago KICS - 3pm CT
Quad Cities Rush v Iowa Raptors - 7pm CT
And now for something completely different...
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