Warsaw Girls Soccer: A Kingsmen Crusher
GOSHEN – Warsaw knew what they were getting into Wednesday night, but hoped it wouldn’t come to fruition. Already familiar with one of the top clubs in the nation, the Tigers and Penn Kingsmen met for the second time this season. The 7-1 whooping Penn put on Warsaw was on par with the first meeting, but this time, the Kingsmen knocked Warsaw from the IHSAA Goshen Girls Soccer Regional.
The first meeting between the two teams, a 4-0 Penn win in August at the St. Joe Tourney, had an undermanned Warsaw club trying to keep pace with a nationally-ranked Penn side. Coming into the regional ranked No. 1 in Indiana and No. 17 in the nation by USA Today, Penn lived up to the hype.
Led by junior Kristina Lynch, Penn’s offense was unphased by both a stout Warsaw defense and a driving rain that continued through most of the match. Lynch, a Florida State verbal commit, stood out from everyone else on the pitch. Weaving inside, outside, up and around the Warsaw defense, Lynch put a shot on target just two minutes into the game and needed just one touch on the ball in the sixth to find the back of the net. Four minutes later, a pass from Molly McLaughlin found the feet of Lynch, who danced through the 18 with ease, her shot nowhere near Patton’s intentions.
Lynch capped her hat trick just six minutes later in an awesome display of ball control, confidence and precision. Taking a through ball, Lynch tracked down the skidding ball in stride, dribbled around three Warsaw defenders and pulled Patton from her line, then dumped the ball into the vacant net. As shellshocked as the Warsaw defense was, Penn was just getting started.
Lynch would assist on the two of the next three Kingsmen goals, setting up Grace Szklarek and Maya Lacognato for easy finishes. McKenzie Blankenbaker added the other goal as part of a 15-shot first half barrage by the Kingsmen on a Warsaw team that came into the regional having pitched shutouts in its last two contests and won 14 of its last 15 matches.
“We had a plan and didn’t actually execute our plan at all,” said Warsaw head coach Peter Lucht. “I would have liked to have seen what would have happened had we, but (Lynch) is a great player. They have two D-1 recruits (Lynch and Brooke VanDyck – Butler University). Just a great team.”
Lynch finished with nine shots in the match and is up to 35 goals and 17 assists on the season, widely considered the top player in the state of Indiana. And for good reason.
But while Lynch was bobbing and weaving with her offensive teammates in the first half, the Penn defense was nearly impenetrable. Warsaw mounted its first legitimate offensive run nearly 34 minutes into the first half, Delaney Taylor finally unloading a shot on target in the 35th minute, but directly at Penn keeper Sommer Domal.
Warsaw (16-5) would take three shots at Domal, a long ball from Abby Steffensmeier in the 43rd minute and breaking through in the 66th minute when Brenna Shipley led Dayle Harvey to space in the Penn third, to which Harvey’s loft on net got under the hands of Domal and trickled into the goal.
“There is a reason why they are ranked No. 1 in the state and (No. 17) in the nation,” Lucht said. “We didn’t do ourselves any favors in the first half. But, they are a great team, so all credit.”
Penn’s Alexis Marks scored the seventh goal in the 64th minute to cap the Penn output. The Kingsmen outshot Warsaw 19-3.
Penn (18-0-1) will move onto the regional final Saturday at 2 p.m. to face longtime rival South Bend St. Joseph’s (12-5-2), which used a goal from Nicole Nemeth with just 8:27 to go in the match to defeat Goshen, 1-0. The RedHawks finish its season 14-4-2.