By Cort Reynolds
For the second straight season, Riverdale and Bluffton met in the Div. III girls soccer district finals at Steinmetz Field on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
And once again the underdog Falcons frustrated the Pirates on their home pitch, edging the hosts 1-0 to again claim the district crown by a single goal.
A year ago, the Falcon girls rallied late to stun the top-seeded Pirates 2-1 in a dramatic overtime battle, ending their 10-match win streak and dashing their tournament dreams.
This time, Riverdale scored just over seven minutes into the game and made it hold up to post a physical, conservative win.
Second-seeded Bluffton finished with a record of 11-7-2 after the defeat.
Riverdale improved to 10-5-5 with the hard-fought victory. Usually playing close and low-scoring games, the Falcons have allowed just 11 goals all season while scoring 29.
“The game was played between the 18’s,” said Lady Pirate head coach Jamie Mehaffie. “Neither team was able to sustain an attack. Unfortunately, it was one of those days where we could not find the back of the net.
“Credit to Riverdale, they did what they needed to do to win,” he noted. “They played very aggressive and hard to the ball. They play very direct.”
The Falcons tallied the game’s lone goal at the 32:56 mark. Junior Mariah Bonham passed a through ball to freshman sister Marissa Bonham, who passed to speedy senior Kendal Rall.
Rall then touched a shot past Pirate sophomore keeper Kynzie Ewing to put the visitors ahead with what proved to be the eventual winning goal.
“Riverdale had one counter-attack and Kynzie just couldn’t save it,” Mehaffie offered.
Ewing stopped a Falcon shot that was a bit off line at the 30:24 point. A Pirate shot was blocked by a Falcon defender’s side with 25:11 to go in the first half.
Ewing deflected a Falcon shot out over the goal line, but the left corner kick went into the side of the net. Seconds later, a left corner kick by Mariah Bonham went wide.
Falcon keeper Anjelina Sierra made a nice punch save in a crowd. A bit later at the other end of the pitch, Rall and a Bluffton defender collided violently in the box but no call was made.
Ewing then cleared a long through ball at the 7:18 juncture. Neither team mustered a quality shot the rest of the half.
Riverdale put two shots on goal in the first half, while Bluffton mustered just one.
“I thought we played a little too fast in the first half,” Mehaffie noted.
Bluffton came out attacking harder in half two. Rall and Ewing collided at the 37:25 mark. A right corner kick by Pirate Aubrey Burkholder was cleared out of bounds moments later.
A Falcon shot from 23 yards out sailed well over the goal with 35:20 remaining.
Sierra then made a daring move to come well off her line 16 yards to her left. She blocked a shot by Burkholder with the side of her at the 33:47 mark to keep Bluffton scoreless.
Sierra then slid to smother a rolling shot with 32:47 left.
Burkholder launched another corner kick, and sophomore Blair Utendorf deftly headed it backward on a pretty header try that went wide right into Sierra’s hands at the 30:30 juncture.
Another Bluffton shot sailed wide right with 26:55 remaining.
Speedy Pirate sophomore Mya McDougle had her shot on goal saved by Sierra at the 20:47 juncture.
Falcon senior Atleigh Vent fired a shot wide left of the goal with 19:12 to go. A Riverdale left corner kick curled in toward the net but wasn’t redirected.
Burkholder kept coming as she hit the left side of the net from about 12 yards out with 17:30 remaining.
Rall’s shot from 15 yards out was snagged by Ewing with 13:10 left to play.
A Pirate right corner kick went awry at the 9:33 mark. A long shot by Falcon junior Brooke Durenberger was grabbed by Ewing with 6:47 to go.
A Durenberger direct kick with six minutes remaining sailed over the net. Bruising Falcon Mariah Bonham fired a shot wide left of the goal at the 5:30 point.
The Pirates then turned up the pressure, earning three straight right corner kicks in a 45-second span. Burkholder’s second corner feed was kicked over the net by the Falcon defense.
Another corner at the 3:33 mark went into a crowd near the net, but Bluffton was unable to put the ricocheting ball in.
Riverdale was called for being offside on a one v. one breakaway at the 2:40 juncture. Sierra then hustled hard to her right to chase down and smother a long Pirate through ball 10 seconds later.
Sierra grabbed another long Pirate shot with 30 ticks remaining, and the Falcons were able to run out the clock and preserve the shutout.
Riverdale also upset top seed Van Buren 1-0 in overtime Tuesday in the district semifinals, and they have not given up a goal in three tournament games so far.
That may well change as the #4 seed Falcons advance to the regional semifinals at Shawnee Tuesday, October 31 at 7 p.m. They will face state-ranked WBL champion Ottawa-Glandorf (19-1), which blanked Delta 3-0 Saturday at Metamora in their district final.
The regional finals will be at Tiffin Columbian Saturday, Nov. 4.
Riverdale had four players run in a cross country regional meet Saturday morning before the match, but they showed little sign of fatigue in the chippy battle between the rivals.
After Bluffton beat Riverdale 1-0 earlier this season on the road, the Pirates were not quite able to repeat the result and avenge the stinging tournament loss of 2022.
“This was a rebuilding year, but the team really came together,” summed up Mehaffie. “I knew we could be strong, and we made some tweaks as the season went along.
“We have a lot coming back, but we will miss our seniors,” he continued. “We have a large freshman class coming in.”
Seniors Jasmine Hasting, Marley Kindle and Ella Armstrong played their final games for the Pirates.
Bluffton got just four official shots off, two on goal. Five of the eight Riverdale shots were on target.
Pirate goalkeeper Ewing made four saves, while Falcon keeper Sierra had to make two stops.
