It was enough pressure for the Tippecanoe girls’ soccer team to be ranked fifth in Ohio. Also, they were undefeated and seeded second in the upcoming tournament which begins this week which added even more pressure to this team. But last Wednesday, the undefeated Red Devils knew exactly what was in front of them… a league title.
With a Tipp victory over Tecumseh, they could claim sole possession of the league title, and they took care of business with a 4-1 victory over the Arrows in the last game of the regular season.
“It was a great thing for this team to get the championship, and to go through the regular season with no losses,” said Tippecanoe coach Brandon Baker. “Our defense has really stepped up this year only allowing five goals, and to win the CBC in our last year was really nice.”
Tipp led 2-0 at the half, and despite the loss for the Arrows, coach Craig Lindsey was proud of how his Arrows battled.
“I was very pleased at our effort overall, after giving up a couple of goals in the first 12 minutes, I knew that we could have either really battled hard for the rest of the game, or we could have folded,” Lindsey said. “They kept playing hard, put some pressure on them and had some chances, but couldn’t convert on our free kicks and left them open a couple of times.”
Tipp came out strong and put the pressure on the Arrows in the first five minutes. After Lexi Blair forced a Tipp corner kick down in Arrows territory, the senior delivered when he took a pass and drove the ball into the net, giving the Red Devils a 1-0 lead at the 32:20 mark of the first half.
Four minutes later, Lauren Lester took the ball in the box, and scored to give the Red Devils a 2-0 lead.
The last serious scoring threat in the opening half came from Tecumseh, as Jade North had a free kick, which was saved by Tipp’s keeper Claire Hinkle, keeping the game 2-0 at the half.
“We looked real good in the first half,” Baker said. “Our ball movement was real good, we were trying to get movement off the forwards and we looked good. We are starting to get it together up there.”
Tipp made it 3-0 when Holly Bernhold scored off an assist from Hunter McKinney before the Arrows ruined the shutout with a goal from Allison Roberts at the 10:56 mark of the second half, cutting the Tipp lead to 3-1.
“Allie is coming off of injury and played through the pain tonight,” Lindsey said. “It’s easy to give up in a game like this. She has been one of our hardest working kids this season, she earned that goal.”
Lester scored again in the closing seconds to wrap up the scoring for the Red Devils.
