A pair of Southeast Iowa Superconference soccer rivals got together at Roth Field in Wayland Monday with the WACO Warriors defending their home turf in a 3-2 win over the visiting Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union Wildcats. The Warriors drew first blood on a fifth minute penalty kick from Tristian Luitjens following a hand ball in the box to take a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, the Wildcats drew even on a strike from the corner of the 18 off the left foot of Diego Villagrana. Columbus/WMU took their only lead of the match five minutes later when Juan Innaritu-Cruz beat the Warrior defense for a 2-1 advantage. WACO found the equalizer just shy of intermission when Joel Meyer served a ball back post that found the head of teammate Nick West and then the back of the net, to make it 2-2 at half. Defenses dug in for most of the second stanza, but the Warrior offense came alive in the waning moments. In the 79th minute, West was the hero, scoring his second goal, and what proved to be the game-winner. West and Meyer spoke after the match with KCII Sports about their scoring chances and how the win felt.
West said, “Coach Shaw said, ‘offense is key to winning’. Taking those shots, you never know which ones are going to go in. Everyone did a great job shooting the ball Tristan (Luitjens), Joel (Meyer), Keiran (Luitjens), Niles (Reichenbach), everybody did a great job. (On the header goal) I give all of the credit to Joel! That was his goal, I was just making sure it was going in. We started out 2-0 and had that three game slide there but, we fought back, we can learn from the mistakes in those losses. (On the game winner), the ball landed at my feet, I kicked it through the defender’s legs, and I’m like ‘Oh man! I’m wide open! I have to make this one!’. I know there’s short time. I kept my composure. I took a shot, it went off the top of my toe a little bit, I was like ‘please go in!’. It hit the goalie and I watched the ball roll into the back of the net and went and celebrated with my team in the corner. It was great! Awesome!”
Meyer continued, “I usually play defense, but this week I got moved to offense. (On the header goal) I just prayed and I kicked it in, Nick (West) was there. This win is really important. It’s good going into this week. To get this one under the big lights.
Each team finished with nine shots on goal, Holden Hughes had seven saves to earn the win for WACO, Brayden Reighard made six stops for the Wildcats. The win halts a three match losing streak for the Warriors as they move to 3-4, the loss drops Columbus to 3-4 on the year.