Waterloo girls soccer's magical 'chase' ends with epic district title game

NILES -- As Bill Jackson exited Bo Rein Stadium Thursday night, the first-year Vikings head coach summarized their season perfectly:

"Man, it was a great chase this year."

That chase ended Thursday night in a Division III district championship game, as No. 2 Waterloo girls soccer fell in penalty kicks, 6-4, to No. 3 Lakeview.

But what a chase it was for the Vikings (17-1-1).

"It was just amazing," Jackson said. "Just the effort all season, even back in June, they've given everything they've had to the program, to the community, to the school, to me, I just can't tell you how proud I am of this group."

The Vikings gave that spectacular effort right down to their very last game Thursday, when their defense brilliantly battled to keep up with the Bulldogs' team speed, junior Kaira English fought through injuries to score two goals (and added a penalty kick in the shootout) and they played deep into the chilly late autumn night.

"It was nice," English said. "I've personally never really went very far in high school tournaments. That was the goal. I mean we didn't accomplish what we wanted, but we had a good run."

Waterloo's 'chase' leads to Bo Rein Stadium

"The Chase" was the term the Vikings used from the very start this season.

They were chasing the program's first league championship, which they accomplished, with a perfect record to boot.

They were also chasing a far more satisfying postseason run than a year ago, when Waterloo's campaign ended at rival Rootstown, a game shy of district.

This season, Waterloo didn't just make it to district.

The Vikings lingered on that stage forever, literally, as their district semifinal victory went to overtime and Thursday's title game went through a pair of 15-minute extra periods and then penalty kicks.

The Bulldogs took over that final period, as they connected on all four of their penalty kicks, with goals by Annabelle Humphrey, Anastasia Hall, MaKenna Doran and Olivia Easton.

Meanwhile, the Vikings sent one penalty kick just over the bar and Bulldogs keeper Ava Hipple robbed Sydney Jackson's fine effort to extend the game, as Hipple dove left to knock away Jackson's shot and clinch the victory.

But the end didn't mar what "The Chase" accomplished.

"From the beginning of the season, since June, we've always been saying we're going to make it to November," Waterloo senior Rose Couts said. "So we've done a lot of work in the past and we just got on a really good run, and we didn't make it there, but we were close."

Waterloo junior Kaira English strikes twice in regulation

The Vikings were absolutely close, as Couts said.

And they certainly proved they belonged on that big, new stage.

Waterloo was tested almost from the start Thursday by Lakeview's brilliant attack, with the Bulldogs' ability to blast or pass right by a defender in the blink of an eye.

In the early minutes and really all night, the Vikings' defense, led by senior Kayla Turcsak and junior Lilly Foster, rewarded their coach's faith in them, which he made clear with his decision to lean on a three-back formation.

"We were working on just containing the ball," Turcsak said. "Trying not to stab at it and let it go by you. Just keeping it on their half. Keeping it contained."

"We really had to rely on the defense tonight," Bill Jackson added. "Playing a three-back, I love it because it lets us play fast, but with those three, they're amazing. Just the way they play angles on the ball is just incredible."

Waterloo took an early lead following a crazy collision between an attacker, defender and keeper that led to the ball squirting free to English, who fired into the open net for the 11th-minute goal.

"Olivia Boyle really set that one up," English said. "She put hard pressure on the goalie and then it got out and I was able to get it."

Lakeview answered with a pair of Anastasia Hall goals.

The senior cashed in from the back post on a Lorelai Lowe corner kick to tie the game in the 19th minute.

Hall then put the Bulldogs in front when she took a quick pass from senior Eliza Farr and ripped the go-ahead goal from the right side of the box in the 27th minute.

The Vikings held steady from there, however, and midway through the second half, found an equalizer as Jackson, the junior midfielder, fired a perfect corner to English, who emphatically headed it home for her 145th career goal. (She's now Portage County's all-time leading scorer and sixth in state history.)

"Corners are important," English said. "We know we can get goals out of them and we needed one. It was a perfect kick by Syd."

Both English, who felt her shoulder pop in Monday's district semifinal and played through significant pain Thursday, and Jackson nearly won it in the ensuing minutes.

In the 70th minute, Jackson boomed a free kick off the field-goal upright.

In the second overtime period, English put a couple of liners on frame, with Hipple catching the first, then falling to her right to corral the second.

Of course, Hipple's biggest save, in penalty kicks, was yet to come.

And thus "The Chase" ended.

But it was a chase that the Vikings will not forget anytime soon.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Waterloo soccer's magical 'chase' ends with epic district title game