Morgan Schenk, with some help from a friendly crossbar, did all she could to keep Ripon Christian in the game Wednesday against the five-time defending Trans-Valley League champion.
There was ultimately no stopping Ripon and prolific striker Olivia Maragos, whose hat trick buoyed the Indians’ 3-0 home win at Wes Stouffer Field.
Ripon (3-0 TVL, 7-3-2 overall) overwhelmed its neighboring rival from the outset, but its decided advantages in possession and shot attempts — 34-4 — were not reflected on the scoreboard for much of the game.
Maragos gave her team some needed breathing room in the 68th minute, blasting a shot past Schenk with Danielle Rey on the assist. She completed the hat trick eight minutes later, using her speed on a breakaway to dart through the Knights’ vulnerable backline. Ripon Christian (1-2, 7-4-1) had committed numbers forward at that point.
“To get that second goal late in the game was really relieving,” Maragos said. “I can’t even describe the feeling, because it’s scary — even at 2-0, which is an even worse lead. But there’s at least a little bit of comfort since you can have that one error. We didn’t end up giving up any (goals), so I was really proud of us for that.”
Ripon Christian did have a couple threatening diagonal through balls for wing forward Alanna Blanco, but those were cut down by goalie Ellena Parenti and her heads-up defense.
There was little activity in front of Ripon’s goal, as Parenti finished with three routine saves. She was well protected by the center-back pairing of Malia Locarnini and Addison Naranjo with fleet-footed Clara Schoolland and Starla Skiles on the outside.
Schenk, on the other hand, was under duress from start to finish. She made multiple diving deflections and was also aided by the goal frame — Maragos was twice denied by the crossbar, and Rey hit it once.
“I don’t want the score line to reflect badly on her,” Ripon Christian coach David Morris said of Schenk. “It was 1-0 until the last 14 minutes of the game, and we went down to two defenders. That shouldn’t take away from an incredible performance from Morgan and really our defense as a whole. It’s 1-0 until the very end of the game, and you have to do what you have to do to try to get it tied up. The score line is unfair to our girls and how well they played.”
Maragos knocked in her first goal in the 19th minute on a well put-together combination play between her and Jordyn Meeuwse. Maragos delivered a through ball to the right winger, who drew Schenk off her line. With the net open, Meeuwse dished a negative ball teed up perfectly for Maragos to loft it over the wall of bodies inside the penalty box.
Keeping it simple was key, said Ripon coach Bryce Perkins.
“We found feet tonight,” he said. “The passing was good. I think the last few games, they were really connecting to each other and finding feet. It’s a big advantage against teams that run long through balls like this team did tonight.”
This starts a stretch in the schedule that shows Ripon where it stands against the rest of the new-look TVL. The Indians face another league newcomer in Sonora (3-0-1, 5-1-1) on Friday and will do so on the road. Next week, they’ll tangle with traditional rival Escalon (1-2, 3-4-4) and Hilmar (3-0-1, 9-3-3), which has been their chief rival during this dynastic run.
Ripon Christian, meanwhile, is showing that it can play at this level. The Knights have stepped up in competition coming from a successful stint in the Southern Athletic League and a Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship. They host Escalon on Friday starting at 3:30.
“We’re not afraid of anybody,” Morris said. “I think tonight shows we can play with anyone, and Ripon is probably the top team in the league. I’m proud of our girls. We’re playing against schools like Ripon that are four times bigger than us, and they probably have all club players while we have one club player total. We will play with anybody.”
