Savannah Schwartz squeaks a ball by a Northridge defender in second half action on Tuesday night. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – How sweet it would have been. The Wawasee girls soccer team were given a golden opportunity on Tuesday night but could not get the breaks needed to pull off an upset against Northridge.

The visiting Raiders scored eight unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0 to claim an 8-1 victory over the Lady Warriors.

Samantha Valle works the ball up the field for the Lady Warriors.

“Northridge is one of the best programs that we play,” said Wawasee head coach Doug Heinisch. “We hope to be at that level some day but we aren’t there yet. Northridge has much better ball control than we do at this point and that showed tonight.”

Wawasee ruffled the feathers of the heavily favored Northridge squad early on as Caitlin Clevenger gave the Warriors a 1-0 advantage on a penalty kick. The PK was set up after a Northridge defender received a red card for tackling Wawasee’s Leigh Ann Schrack in the box. The call left the Raiders one player short for the remainder of the game.

“Caitlin (Clevenger) did a nice job tonight,” Heinisch said of his senior captain. “She obviously had the goal for us and made a nice shot there but she was also very good on defense tonight. She stayed in front of her girl and really played a nice game all around, which is what you expect from a senior leader.”

Charity Parker punts a ball after making a save in the junior varsity game for Wawasee.

Despite having the advantage in number of players on the field, the Warriors could never stay consistent with their possessions. Northridge controlled the tempo of the game and kept the ball at Wawasee’s end for the overwhelming majority of the contest.

Bailey O’Dell gave the Raiders the equalizer (28′) over midway through the first half. Sydney Fuller scored a short time later (33′) to give the visiting squad the lead. A PK by Sarah Nowak (35′) rounded out the Raider scoring for the first half.

Northridge would continue to dominate the second half, scoring five more goals. The Warriors never found themselves in a position to make a charge at the Raiders goal despite having the advantage of an extra player.

Wawasee (1-10, 0-3) will have to regroup and prepare for another tough Northern Lakes Conference contest on Thursday as the girls will travel to Plymouth.

The Wawasee junior varsity squad fell 2-0 to Northridge despite a well-played match by keeper Charity Parker. The JV is now 0-3-1 on the season.