Lady Dragons get Culver wake up call in sectional win
LAKEVILLE — It took the Argos High School girls soccer team a couple of minutes to gain its focus during Tuesday’s Class 1A Sectional 35 first-round from Newton Park.
But once the Dragons did, the experience of Coach Joe Stone’s team controlled the tempo en route to a 6-1 victory over the Cavaliers.
Culver’s Baleigh Binkley proved why she is one of the top scorers in the area, finding the net in the 8th minute to put CCHS on top 1-0.
“The girls have been talking about Culver all week and they were really excited to play them because we don’t play them in the regular season,” said Stone of his Argos team. “And there are a couple of Culver girls that play in Argos FC, a travel club, so these girls know each other. It is a little bit of a rivalry.”
That, according to Coach Stone, was the needed wake-up call the Dragons needed.
“It took a quick goal by Culver to wake us up,” explained Stone. “I was very proud of our girls because they didn’t panic. After getting down 1-0 they just went out and kept playing their game and knocked four or five in that first half so I was very proud of them.”
Once the Dragon was poked, Stone’s crew rattled off two quick goals. Emma Dunlap and Madilyn Vanderweele found the net at the 17th and 20th minute, respectively. Argos virtually put the match away with another duo of goals in a three-minute span right before halftime.
Dunlap picked up her second goal of the match, as the sophomore was in the right spot on the field at the right time to land a soft direct kick in the right corner of the net. Just a short time later, Lilly Hines ripped a shot past the Culver goalie in the 38th minute to give Argos a 4-1 halftime lead.
The defense was also doing its part to keep Culver at bay and away from goal.
“Sometimes that is what it takes to get the kids to wake up,” Stone said of his team. “That Culver is not very good, then all of a sudden I am telling the girls, ‘Hey, they are 10-6-1 they can put the ball in the net, they can score.’ They (Culver) have two girls that have 20-plus goals and you can’t go in there thinking like that and it was a great wake-up call. They settled down and played great defense and held the ball and got the ball up to the forwards so they could do something with the ball.”
The Dragons kept the pressure on in the second half, scoring a couple of times to keep the Cavaliers from any sort of rally.
Vanderweele found the net on a nifty move in the 46th minute, while Hines added her second goal in a 20-minute span to close out the scoring.
A total of three Argos players netted goals to lead the way to the semifinal round.
“That is what I love about them. They are so young. I’ve got a freshman up top, I’ve got three sophomores that can play up there, and you know that you have Madisyn Barcus up there as a senior leader. I got some girls that can knock the ball in. And then you go back to Madilyn Vanderweele that played stopper slash midfield and she knocked in a couple tonight. I have a plethora of girls that can knock the ball in the goal for me and it’s finally working for me.”
Culver finishes the season at 10-7-1, while Argos improves to 11-4.
The Dragons will face Rochester in the first semifinal match Oct. 8 at 5 p.m.
The second semifinal will feature a rematch of a regular-season contest between Bremen and Laville immediately following. Laville took the regular season match 4-0 back on Aug. 20 at Bremen. •ARGOS 6, CULVER COMMUNITY 1
At Lakeville, Newton Park
Culver Community 1 0 - 1
Argos 4 2 - 6
Scoring Summary
C - Baleight Binkley, 8th minute
A - Emma Dunlap, 17th minute
A - Madilyn Vanderweele, 20th minute
A - Dunlap, 35th minute
A - Lilly Hines, 38th minute
A - Vanderweele, 46th minute
A - Hines, 59th minute
Shots On Goal: Culver 1, Argos 22
Corner Kicks: Culver 0, Argos 3
Goalie Saves: Culver (Sophia Heath) 16, Argos (Alyssa Poisel) 0.
Records: Culver 10-7-1 (final), Argos 11-4.