Wabash Shoots Way Past Valley
By Nick Goralczyk
InkFreeNews
AKRON – It was a high scoring affair Tuesday evening when the Tippecanoe Valley soccer team opened it season against Wabash on the pitch. An up-and-down affair ultimately had too many downs for the Vikings as the Apaches pulled away for a 7-3 victory.
Valley looked strong in the opening minutes, keeping the pressure on Wabash’s defense, but were unable to connect despite two shots on goal. Once Wabash was able to find some rhythm with the ball the visiting squad became hard to stop.
Jacob France broke the nil-nil tie in the 13th minute and added a second goal (18’) to put the Apaches up 2-0. Anthony Long netted a goal (27’) of his own for Wabash to extend the lead to 3-0. But Valley was not going to roll over so easily in its season opener.
Caleb Petgen had the honor of scoring Valley’s first goal of the 2020 season with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half. Christian Ramirez, who proved to be a menace for Wabash much of the evening, brought the home team within one with his goal (35’) a few minutes later. Wabash reclaimed some momentum before the half as Solomon France scored (36’) to put the Apaches up 4-2 at the break.
Ramirez notched his second goal of the game (44’) to start the half out strong for the Vikings, but the 4-3 score would be as close as it got the rest of the way for Valley. Wabash, playing its third game of the young season, stayed strong and kept the Vikings playing defense for much of the remaining time in the game. Meanwhile the Apaches added three scores, in order, from Grant Carandante (60’), Andrew Dinkins (62’) and Troy Guenin-Hodson (76’). Carandante also tallied two assists in the match.
Valley (0-1) hosts Caston this Thursday evening while Wabash (1-2) will travel to Manchester.