A stellar reaction save by East Union freshman goalie Kadence Rossi led to Ripon forward Olivia Maragos’ fourth goal in a non-league match Monday at Stouffer Field.
That’s just how the night went for the two sides, as the Maragos-led Indians downed the visiting Lancers, 4-1.
“It was as if she was providing herself with the assists,” Ripon coach Bryce Perkins said. “She was assisted once. The rest were masterpieces by herself.”
The reigning Most Outstanding Offensive Player in the Trans-Valley League took the first and final shots of the game, convertin on both.
Maragos started the spree in the opening minute, doubled the lead in the 29th and completed the hat trick after a great cross from Kyla Agbayani in the 54th.
She went for the fourth goal in the 73rd minute, but her 1-on-1 breakaway was initially thwarted by Rossi (five saves), who parried the ball high and deflected it off the crossbar. Maragos gathered the loose ball and knocked it in.
“One player beat us,” East Union coach Jason Silva said.
His youthful Lancers (1-1), nearly at full strength as players join from their club teams, played with a one-man disadvantage for the final 31 minutes after a player was booked with a second yellow card for dissension.
They were fortunate to be down by only one goal for much of the first half after Ripon (2-1) relentlessly attacked for the opening 10 minutes. The Lancers eventually put together some threatening runs starting in the 15th minute, particularly on the right flank with senior forward Kaylee Mejia and Alexa Bretao.
East Union finally broke through two minutes in the second half. Bretao led the fleet-footed Mejia with a through ball, and Mejia centered it to Emily Pires to close the Lancers in, 2-1. Pires, a freshman, has scored three of EU’s four goals, so far.
The player ejection slowed the Lancers roll, however.
“It was definitely not our game,” Silva said. “I feel like we just have a lot to work on, but there’s a lot we can learn from this game. We came out flat and tried to battle back. There were some positives, we just had too many mistakes.”
To the Lancers’ credit, they were able to create some good scoring chances in the final 11 minutes, but Ellena Parenti Gomez came up with three of her eight saves down the stretch.
Perkins lauded his veteran goalkeeper as well as his new back four comprising of four terrific athletes in Katherine Van Gorkom, Addison Naranjo, Clara Schoolland and Starla Skiles. Schoolland and Skiles qualified for the state track and field meet last spring.
“I can’t say enough about our defense tonight,” Perkins said. “It’s an area we’re trying to solidify, and they were lights out. As soon as we changed it up to work some players, things started working in (East Union’s) favor and we had to put them all back in.”
