Lady Tigers, Northridge Tie For NLC TitleIt was a senior night to remember for Abby Steffensmeier and the Warsaw Tigers.
Warsaw tied Northridge Raiders to a score of 1-1 to earn Northern Lakes Conference co-champion honors, thanks to a right-footed equalizing blast with just 11 seconds left in the match.
“Honestly, it’s hard to describe what happened,” said Steffensmeier. “It all happened so quickly.”
After winning a loose ball near the middle of the field with her team down by a goal, Steffensmeier took matters into her own hands by dribbling past multiple Raider defenders before burying the shot past the keeper.
It wasn’t, however, all smooth sailing for the Tigers. Warsaw faced adversity early in the second half as striker Lauren Kollat scored off a perfectly weighted pass by freshman midfielder Kendal Weaver.
“I’m proud of the way we worked after they scored that goal,” reflected head coach Jon Hoover. “I just wish we put one away early.”
Indeed, the Tigers enjoyed the majority of possession and key chances in the first half. Warsaw, with numerous opportunities to take the lead, could not break through.
“There have been a few games this year where we gave up goals in the first five minutes,” said Hoover. “But we came out on fire with a great opening to the game.”
“They’ve got a great goalkeeper in Hope Stacker,” he continued, “and anytime you go against a strong goalie you never know how it will turn out.”
Stacker was called upon to deliver big saves throughout the match, but she was unable to keep Warsaw off the score sheet all night.
Still, Northridge’s ‘bend-but-don’t-break’ defense absorbed pressure for much of the game.
Shouts for a penalty kick roared from the visiting supporter’s section with twenty minutes to go in the first half, but the referee awarded no foul.
After Kollat’s opening goal, Northridge’s defense sat deeper and played in a more counter-attacking fashion. They often played long, direct passes to Kollat to relieve pressure where she would look to beat the Tiger defenders off the dribble.
With the game looking all but over, Steffensmeier clawed a goal back.
“It was pretty special to be able to celebrate with these girls,” said Steffensmeier. “Northridge is a super-good team, so it was awesome to battle with them. It was a great moment.”
For Steffensmeier, it was a goal that boosted her resume as Warsaw women’s soccer all-time leading scorer.
The last-minute strike was her 20th goal of the season. She now has ten goals in her last six games. Perhaps even more impressive, the senior striker has recorded a point in thirteen of sixteen games this year.
The win puts Warsaw and Northridge on equal footing as the conference season concludes. Both teams will head into the postseason play with overall records of 9-5-3 and conference records of 6-0-1.
Warsaw now host Fort Wayne Wayne on Tuesday for a girls soccer sectional matchup. The winner will play at Fort Wayne?South Side on Thursday.
