With a record of 4-3-1 in the first eight games of the season, the Lady Cadets had played four games on the road and four games at home. Despite poor games against Lebanon and Monrovia, the Lady Cadets had been in a good position to find a victory for each game. The Lady Cadets journey to West Vigo last night was the start of their second half of the season. The second half of the season is expected to contain at least four very competitive games that could help build momentum and postseason confidence for the Lady Cadets. The Lady Cadets had already faced West Vigo as part of the consolation game at the Lebanon Invitational. The Cadets played well in the heat and exhaustion and managed to earn a 3-0 victory. With the Lady Cadets and Lady Vikings playing each other already this season, there wasn’t much to hide for each team. Anna Burns scored three goals against West Vigo in the first meeting and it would be easy to say that would make efforts to know where she was the whole game. West Vigo’s primary offensive weapon was a long through ball that would hopefully surprise a team and lead to a good shot on goal. At the start of the game, the Lady Cadets dominated possession and got off three quality shots toward the West Vigo goal. But in the next 10:00 minutes, that game started to swing in favor of the Lady Vikings. West Vigo was able to earn a penalty kick (PK) with about 28:00 remaining in the half. Amber Culp, the Cascade goalie, made a smart save on the PK and tapped the ball over the crossbar. This key save set up a West Vigo corner kick that bounced in the West Vigo favor again when the Cadets were called for a handball in the penalty box. For a second time in less than :15 seconds, the Lady Vikings were on the PK mark getting ready to shoot at the goal. The second penalty kick sailed out of the Cascade goalie’s reach and the Lady Vikings took a 1-0 lead. When the Cadets restarted after the goal, they quickly pushed the ball into the Vikings end of the field. Soon the ball ended up on Regan Franklin’s foot and she made a great spin move into open space near the end line. Regan was then able to dribble toward the goal which allowed her to find Ava Allen. Regan’s pass to Ava was quickly struck into the goal for Ava Allen’s seventh goal of the season and Regan’s second assist of the season. For the rest of the first half, the teams exchanged long passes and some physical play in the middle of the field. No team really controlled the game and there were only a couple of threatening attacks made by each team. The 1-1 tie remained at the halftime whistle. At the start of the second half, the Cadets had to make some adjustments in their team formation due to injuries and it took some time for the team to regain an attacking and defending rhythm. Once the team worked through a couple of different substitutions, a final formation was set that allowed the Cadets to move the ball up the field. With an attacking formation of 4-2-3-1, the Cadets were able to get more control of the midfield and created multiple good scoring chances. Ruthie Trump’s two goals in the second half came about from broken plays that started with a midfield attack. Ruthie’s first goal came from the combination of touches from three other players. Regan Franklin pressed the ball up the middle and passed ahead to Anna Burns. Anna’s shot toward the goal richocetted off the goalie’s leg right to Trinity Reitzel. Trinity made an excellent touch on the ball and passed it right to Ruthie Trump, who shot the ball into the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2. Ruthie’s second goal came after Regan Franklin struck an excellent through pass toward Alexa Rodriguez that deflected off a West Vigo defender and right into Ruthie Trump path. Ruthie made two quick touches on the ball and then struck a strong shot past the Lady Vikings’ goalie. Ruthie’s second goal at 16:15 remaining in the game put the Lady Cadets ahead at 3-2 and a little bit of breathing room for the last minutes of the game. Despite giving up a goal in the second half, the Lady Cadets defense held together for the entire second half and were instrumental in the 3-2 victory as they stalled repeated attacking movements in the midfield. The 3-2 victory over West Vigo Lady Vikings was a hard fought win. The Cascade Girls Soccer record moves to 5-3-1 and the Lady Vikings win/loss record moves to 3-6. These two teams are assigned to the same Sectional competition and could meet for a third time when the tournament starts in early October. The Lady Cadets have little time to rest as they now look ahead to play the Lady Tiger Cubs of Greencastle on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. and then play another game on Monday, September 19th against the Lady Patriots of Owen Valley. Game Summary Cascade 3 West Vigo 2 Goals/Assists: 25:03 1H Ava Allen (7), A: Regan Franklin (2) 29:03 2H Ruthie Trump (3), A: Trinity Reitzel (1) 16:15 2H Ruthie Trump (4)