Delaware Rising floods Firelands United with wave of scoring for fourth straight victory
Rising sits atop NOSL with 12 points after four matches played.
Delaware Rising capped off a picture-perfect May with a 9-0 victory over Firelands United on Sunday afternoon. The win gives Rising a 4-0-0 start in Northern Ohio Soccer League (NOSL) play and leaves them firmly atop the table with 12 points.
Delaware began the match searching for a way past Firelands United’s stingy low block, something forward Natalie Dye (Detroit Mercy) and her teammates hadn’t encountered yet this season.
“So I think coming in, we kind of had a couple of issues in the beginning,” Dye said.
“We were just forcing balls in and sending crosses without enough people on the end of them. So I think it was a lot of problem-solving. They had us in a low block and we haven’t really played against a team with a low block yet. So I think that’s what we’re working on — moving together as a team, figuring out problems and how to solve them, and being creative.”
Rising indeed got creative as they broke down the Firelands low block when Lindsey Castillo (IU Indy) linked up with Kasey Duke (Capital) on a cross for the game’s first tally. The goal marked Duke’s second in as many weeks and gave her three points in two contests.
Fifteen minutes later, Lindsey Whitmore (Otterbein) battled through several defenders in the penalty area before poking home a corner kick from Ella Fuller (Eastern Michigan) to double the lead to 2-0.
Dye found the scoresheet in the 31st minute to extend the advantage to 3-0, scoring a beautiful goal from outside the penalty area that nestled into the upper-left corner where the side and back netting meet.
Fuller added a goal in the 60th minute off a dead-ball restart from Kindall Duke (Western Michigan). Duke’s free kick bounced out to sister Kasey, who laid it off to Fuller. Fuller then struck it from distance past the goalkeeper to push the lead to 4-0.
A pair of Otterbein Cardinals accounted for the sixth and seventh goals of the contest as Whitmore found the scoresheet for the second time on the day and teammate Jada Leyland added another to swell the lead to 7-0.
Both Averys on the Delaware Rising roster found the scoresheet for goals eight and nine of the afternoon as Avery Curtin (Ohio Wesleyan) and Avery Settles (Otterbein) scored the final tallies to secure the victory.
Delaware finishes May unbeaten and has yet to allow a goal when Ella Schwertfager (Otterbein) and Sally Patton (Loyola Chicago) split duties in net. The duo once again shared time in goal on Sunday afternoon and continues to benefit from a thriving offense. Rising has outscored opponents 14-0 when the pair features in goal.
UP NEXT
It’s some time off for Delaware Rising to get healthy and enjoy the summer. The women don’t return to competitive action until June 14 against Mansfield Liederkranz.