Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Every member of the Solon girls’ soccer team felt that if they could just score that first goal, more may arrive in bunches.

After a scoreless first half in their Class 1A regional semifinal tussle with Mid-Prairie, the 15th-ranked Spartans broke through less than five minutes into the second half thanks to the back foot of senior forward Stella Mesch.

“Thank goodness,” Mesch said after Solon scored three times in less than 13 minutes and blanked Mid-Prairie, 3-0, Tuesday night at Spartan Stadium. “That had to be probably the third cross that came in to me and the first two I absolutely whiffed. And to be honest, that one I whiffed, too, and luckily just in time got my back foot on it to get it in.”

The goal was the 12th this season for Mesch, and the aforementioned crossing pass arrived courtesy of super sophomore Morgan Link, who fielded a throw-in pass, dribbled towards the end line and fired a pass into the goal box where Mesch was positioned.

“I just crossed it and hoped that someone was there,” Link said. “Stella ran in and scored and that was pretty fantastic.”

Breaking the scoreless stalemate really appeared to alleviate the pressure from the Spartans.

“All of us just knew we were just going to start rolling after that,” Mensch said. “You could tell, the energy changed all over the field and everybody was just ready to go.”

Link needed less than 10 minutes to extend the Solon lead to 2-0 with a scoring strike of her own, her team-best 25th goal this season (which ranks 11th in all of 1A).

“The fact that my teammates depend on me and they continue to make me have my opportunities,” Link said. “I feel really lucky and honestly without them, I do not know where I would be at.”

Link helped cap the scoring for Solon with a well-placed corner kick that found freshman teammate Gabby Knipper, who headed in her seventh goal of the season with in the 58th minute.

Link now has five assists this season.

“She has really just been a key player for us,” Solon Coach Amanda Paulson said. “She is a very versatile player and even tonight they were man-marking her and she was able to still find the ball and make some plays up top.”

The Solon defense was exceptional against direct attacks from Mid-Prairie (11-6), which had tremendous difficulty breaking through a Solon defensive back line that included juniors Christine Diersen and Alex Locke, plus sophomores Maria Milliman and Izzy Paisley.

“We talked a lot back,” Milliman said. “Alex (Locke), my other center back, she is great at talking back to me. That is what really helped. Stepping to the ball a lot, not letting them turn stuff. That is what really helped us.”

Solon (14-5) can qualify for the state tournament with one more victory, but that will need to be obtained Friday on the road against top-ranked Davenport Assumption (13-5), which is undefeated against 1A competition this season.

“At this point, we have nothing to lose,” Paulson said. “We have a whole state probably thinking we don’t have a chance and we have our team that is excited to show everybody what we can do.”

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.