Regular Season Title Within Reach as Delaware Rising Blank Valentis Athletica 4-0
The Delaware Rising women extended their winning streak to six matches with a 4-0 victory on the road against Valentis Athletica Sunday afternoon. The win gives Rising a perfect record on the road during the 2026 regular season and sets up what could be a winner-take-all match for the regular season title when North FC comes to town on July 12 for the regular season finale.
Both teams began the match feeling each other out. Delaware spent the opening quarter-hour probing the Valentis defense but struggled to generate a quality shot on target.
In the 22nd minute, Rising put together a dangerous flurry in the box after a corner kick from Kindall Duke (Western Michigan). Athletica recovered well, however, and managed to deny the opportunity.
Fifteen minutes later, Avery Curtin (Ohio Wesleyan) scored the game’s opening goal. Duke connected with Curtin as she made a run from deep midfield, springing her in behind the defense. Valentis goalkeeper Lauren Tobias came off her line to challenge, but Curtin danced around her and calmly slotted the ball into the empty net.
Lindsey Castillo (IU Indy) added a goal just before halftime as she connected with teammate Lindsey Whitmore (Otterbein), who delivered a quality ball from the right side. Castillo made no mistake, burying the chance to double the Rising lead to 2-0 heading into the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, Rileigh Glassburn (Ohio Northern) collected Delaware’s third goal of the afternoon when she linked up with Jada Leyland (Otterbein), who sprung the forward in behind the back line. Glassburn found herself one-on-one with Tobias, forcing the goalkeeper to come off her line once again. The Rising forward touched the ball past the diving keeper and into the net before taking a bow in celebration.
Delaware struck one final time as Ali De Gracia created space from distance and uncorked a shot from outside the penalty area that found the back of the net, beating the goalkeeper and putting an emphatic 4-0 punctuation mark on a dominant Rising road trip.
Up next
Unfortunately, it’s another layoff for the Delaware Rising women as they won’t see action again until July 12th. However, it’s a big one as North FC comes to town as the winner of the contest could be the regular season champion of the Northern Ohio Soccer League (NOSL).