By Mike Zummo
The battles between the Valley Central Vikings and the Minisink Warriors go back to last year’s Section 9 Class AA championship game.
The Vikings won that game on a rainy day in Warwick to advance to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA tournament for the first time.
The two teams met again on Sept. 9 in the Vikings’ Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II opener. The Warriors avenged their title defeat with a victory.
The two teams met again – on another rainy day – and after 94 minutes of soccer, junior Hannah Stahl delivered two goals as the Vikings posted a 2-1 victory on Wednesday at Valley Central High School.
“It was really great to be here with the team,” Stahl said. “It’s been a long season, and we’re already halfway through. We played them in one of the earlier games of the season, so we knew what to expect. We did lose, 2-0, to them at their home field, so we knew with the home advantage, we just had to play like we’ve usually been playing.”
They’ve been playing well since that 2-0 loss to the Warriors. Since then, they have been running a five-game unbeaten streak. They followed that with wins over the Monticello Panthers and Cornwall Dragons. Then, after they played the Goshen Gladiators to a scoreless tie, they opened last week with a 3-0 win over the Washingtonville Wizards.
After a scoreless first half, the Vikings got on the board first when, in the 49th minute, Cailin Swart sent a corner kick into play from the left side, and Stahl redirected it into the goal to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
“It definitely set us up emotionally, and we knew we were still in this,” Stahl said. “We were struggling to score the first time we played against them, so I feel like coming out with that first goal, definitely put us in the right mindset.”
It may have done the same for the Warriors, who got an answer a minute later when Minisink Valley’s Cayleigh Kuiken caught Valley Central goalkeeper Adrianna Ferraro out of the net and converted that into a game-tying goal.
Overall, Ferraro made five saves.
“I think (the first goal) gave us a boost,” Valley Central coach Jon Walsh said. “I know they came back rather quickly to tie it up, but I think once we knew we had the one, we felt like we could always get the second.”
They didn’t get the second until overtime as the teams battled to a 1-1 tie after regulation, sending them to a Golden Goal overtime period.
“Make one mistake and it could be over,” Walsh said. “We just talked about getting back to what we wanted to do, possess the ball, find feet and make it happen.”
The Vikings made it happen about five minutes into the 10-minute period. Eighth-grade midfielder Kaya Russell sent a pass to sophomore Dayna Scott to the right of the goal. Scott moved the ball along the end line, sent a crossing pass into the box, where Stahl was waiting for it to deliver the game-winning goal.
Stahl said Russell has been a great addition to the team.
“I knew then I had to be at the front post, get across their defender and we knew the keeper was going to be coming across,” Stahl said. “I knew we had to keep it low to get across her and Dayna did what she had to do.”
The Vikings were scheduled to finish their week on Thursday with a road game against the Monticello Panthers, but that game was postponed due to inclement weather.
“I feel as a team we’ve been growing very close,” Stahl said. “We’ve just gotten that chemistry as each game as gone on. The further we get into the season, the more we’re improving.”