As is tradition, River Valley and Marion Harding met for Futbol Friday Night, a girls and boys varsity soccer doubleheader.
MARION — As far as opening nights go, it was tough to top the dramatics of Futbol Friday Night.
The Marion Harding and River Valley girls soccer teams kicked off the season at RV, and in a back-and-forth battle, the Presidents survived 4-3.
"I think going into it we had a lot of high nerves and stuff, but once we got back and playing and got back into the game, we just did it," Marion Harding forward Ivy Russell said after her hat trick. "Especially being a senior and having a lot of seniors on the team this year, it’s a super important win. We fought super hard."
In the boys match that followed, it was a stalemate for nearly 70 minutes, but River Valley as the defending Mid Ohio Athletic Conference champions prevailed with two goals in the final 10 minutes.
"I will say we’re not rebuilding or reloading. We’re retooling. I’ve got 11 guys starting who have played for us, but one of us is in the same position that they played last year. We’re not defending anything. We’re a new team," RV boys coach Joel Richards said.
How did the girls match shake out?
RV's Sarina Strother scored two goals inside the first 20 minutes and that lead held at 2-0 into halftime. Making more dire for Harding was the fact that senior goalkeeper Sophie Holt injured her foot on the second goal and sat out the rest of the night, relieved by junior Charlee Etgen.
"They are very good about taking direction and applying it," Harding girls coach Kori Nehrenz said. "They corrected every single thing that was missing in the first half in the second half and it showed."
Just 46 seconds into the second half, Russell scored off a deep rebound beyong the box for her team's first goal. Seven minutes later Urszula Lisiecki evened it with a left-footer. It stayed that way until Russell broke away for a goal and a 3-2 lead with 16:18 left, but Strother gave herself a hat trick when she tied it up on a free bix just outside the box.
Moments later in a broken play, Russell took a crossing pass into an empty net.
"We owned the first half and lost the second half," RV girls coach Justin Hage said. "We have to play both halves, and we have to be first to ball. The first half we were first to ball, and in the second half we let them have every ball and let them take everything away from us."
How did the boys match break down?
Both teams got shots on goal as RV keeper Cooper Mullins and his Harding counterpart Liam Hoy kept the match scoreless until late in the match. With 10:50 to go, Coben Reser slid into a kick and just got the ball by a diving Hoy. Then with 63 seconds left, Gideon Owings salted it away with a one-timer.
"It feels nice to start 1-0, but we kept grinding and grinding and grinding," Richards said. "What you saw there was summer conditioning. We conditioned more than we ever have because I knew we’re not as deep as we’ve been. I got 14 or 15 guys in tonight. Unless we’re up really big, down some or taking injuries, that’s what we need to expect."
Richards warned his team that Harding is much improved and it showed. The Presidents started eight sophomores and a freshman.
"A lot of that credit goes to Ian (Hartley, Harding's head coach). He has three nice players in Harrison Keith and Angel (De La Cruz) and Jeffrey Stimson. They are learning how to play team soccer," Richards said.
While disappointed in the outcome, Hartley wasn't disappointed in his squad..
"I wasn’t sure we would be able to piece it together for 70 minutes like we did tonight," he said. "Maybe more shots on goal. A lot of things were advantage us, but a lot of times in soccer you don’t always come out on the right side. It can be a brutal game.
"I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. They’re still loaded with juniors and seniors and we have a young, young group that’s still gaining experience. Their dedication and work ethic this summer was the reason we were able to compete for 70 minutes tonight."
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Futbol Friday Night | River Valley, Marion Harding meet in soccer
Category: General Sports
