Report and photos by Kevin Kyle
Having secured the goal differential tiebreaker had the clubs tied in Sunday evening’s season finale, the Sioux Falls City Football Club was in the driver’s seat against River Light FC at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls. A simple draw would have given City second place in the USL W Central Conference Heartland Division, but the hosts left nothing to chance – breaking a scoreless deadlock three minutes into the second half before rolling to a 7-1 victory.
Not only did SFCFC claim second place behind Minnesota Aurora FC with the victory, but City also exacted revenge on the only other team to have beaten the club in its first season in the USL W – a 3-0 loss to RLFC on the road on opening night.
Sioux Falls City Football Club defender Rylee Haldeman crosses the ball in the first half of Sunday evening’s USL W Central Conference Heartland Division season finale at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls.
“Things might be difficult, things might be challenging, but we come together and find a way,” said SFCFC Sporting Director Joe DeMay. “When we apply what we learn and what we talk about and then go do it on the field… second half was a masterclass! Every goal… want to nominate a goal of the week, pick one – good luck. To talk about it at halftime and go out and do that exemplifies what we did all season.”
No luck was involved in tallying seven well-crafted goals on the night, and Hailee Christensen’s first-half warning blast that was tipped off the crossbar by a fully stretched Megan Holland let the visitors know City was going to let rip throughout the evening.
Substitutes Katharina Oelschlaeger, Mali Van Meeteren and Tyreese Zacher made an immediate impact to open the second half. The former received a through ball from Nadja Meite, broke free down the left side, beat a RLFC defender and slipped the ball across the goal mouth to an onrushing Mia Mullenmeister to tap in for a 1-0 SFCFC lead three minutes into the second stanza.
The City marker proved a rude welcome to the match for RLFC substitute goalkeeper Braelynn Galt, who had to cover the near post with Oelschlaeger edging closer to the goal. That, however, was just the beginning of Galt’s woes.
A mere five minutes later, City notched a second… from a less assuming player. Taking a pass up the middle from Oelschlaeger, with room, SFCFC starting midfielder Yui Fujii took a quick look up and pulled the trigger. Fujii’s vicious left-footed drive curled away from Galt and into the left side of the goal to double City’s advantage on 53 minutes.
SFCFC center back Taylor Thomas battles for possession with a River Light player in the first half of Sunday evening’s USL W Central Conference Heartland Division season finale at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls.
“When I got the ball from ‘Kat,’ I was just looking for the goal… and kicked it,” said the skilled Japanese distributor. “I’ve been wanting to score, so I was really happy to score today.
“The first half we were struggling with our positioning and defending, but we stayed together in the second half, moved the ball faster and played with more intensity.”
And after the second tally, City’s intensity and confidence was not to be contained.
Four minutes after Fujii’s rocket, Oelschlaeger had a near miss, coming off a rare forward run from center back Taylor Thomas. Although City’s leading scorer on the season wasn’t able to hit the mark on the night, the German striker recorded a quartet of assists – the second coming on SFCFC’s third tally of the match.
Oelschlaeger’s slippery, angled ball from the left channel had the perfect weight on it for Meite to run onto and calmly push it under Galt on 62 minutes – giving City a 3-0 advantage.
City players, coaches and fans alike had barely caught their collective breath before they were back on their feet celebrating the host’s fourth. Oelschlaeger again served as playmaker, getting to the end line and cutting the ball back to Christensen for a left-footed blast from 14 yards that beat Galt low to her left for a 4-0 City lead.
City would add one more before RLFC could locate the net with its lone tally, as Van Meeteren scored her first goal of the campaign. The stalwart midfielder, usually counted on to distribute the ball, demonstrated her ability to elude defenders, beating Lily Coats thrice in the left corner before sweeping a high curling shot over Galt and into the right corner of the goal.
SFCFC striker Mia Mullenmeister delivers a through ball to a teammate in the first half of Sunday evening’s USL W Central Conference Heartland Division season finale at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls.
“I guess I was just waiting for a good opening; Rylee (Haldeman) played me a good ball, I had space and just had to do it (take the shot),” said Van Meeteren. “The one before, I served into the box and we didn’t connect, so I thought I might as well.”
Despite trailing 5-0, River Light found a way to erase its goose egg from the scoreboard on 74 minutes. RLFC speedster Sydni Fink, who scored the first time the sides meet in Aurora, IL, broke free down the middle and pushed the ball past SFCFC substitute keeper Iyan Hernandez to trim a little off the deficit.
City quickly pulled the marker back, however, as substitute striker Keyera Harmon ran onto another perfectly weighted ball, this time from City right winger Hanna Schimmer, and slotted it past a hapless Galt for a 6-1 City lead on 83 minutes.
“We kept saying it was building, and tonight was awesome that it finally happened,” said Harmon of the team effort. “It was great way, for me personally, to end the season and help the team out. It was knowing what we needed to do in the second half, which was to come out more aggressive, tweak a couple things and… we did it.”
Although the host’s sixth counter lifted City above Aurora FC for goals on the season, the party wasn’t over. Meite completed her brace a mere three minutes later via another swift cutback pass from none other than Oelschlaeger.
“We’ve just continued to build from the very beginning and wanted to end it just like this,” noted Harmon. “We couldn’t go for first place, so second place is where we wanted to be, and we made that happen – a great effort from the entire team.
DeMay couldn’t agree more
“If you’re going to build something, and again, if you’re here next year or not here next year, you’re part of it; you built it one story higher, maybe a couple stories higher,” he said post-match. “We can’t keep going unless we build the year before. Maybe we fell short of some goals, but there are a lot of things to be proud of in what you did this year.”
This is OUR City!
RLFC 0 1 – 0
SFCFC 0 7 – 7