WELLMAN

The start to the 2024 soccer season has been rocky: The Hawks scrimmage against Benton was canceled and their matchup against Central Lee was postponed. This meant the Hawks would start their season against the Solon Spartans, a 10-6 club from a year ago.

Similar to last year, the Hawks lost 6-0 – 7-0 a year ago. The Hawks went on to beat West Liberty 2-1 on April 1. Both goals came from the up-and-coming sophomore Elise Gingerich.

This momentum carried to their next game against the Columbus Wildcats on Thursday, April 4 where the Hawks won 2-1 in the shootout.

Gingerich wasted no time against the Wildcats.

Three minutes and 48 seconds into the game, Gingerich sent a penalty kick to the back of the net, giving Mid-Prairie the early lead.

It seemed the Hawks would control the pace and topple Columbus with ease.

That was not the case.

Mid-Prairie struggled to muster any offense the rest of the game as Gingerich sat at center field waiting for the chance to break-away.

When she did get that chance, she found herself facing the entire Columbus defense with no help.

The Hawk defense remained sturdy despite seeing a relentless Columbus attack. The Hawk defense bent one time, allowing a goal with 30 minutes left in regulation.

Columbus had countless more chances to take the lead and claim the victory. But the Hawk defense did not break.

This meant overtime.

Before anyone could process overtime, Gingerich broke away and had a one-on-one scoring opportunity: she shot the ball just wide, visibly upset as the ball careened just wide of the net.

The rest of overtime passed with no incident.

This meant a shootout.

Junior Kyla Karnes took over as goalie for the Hawks as Gingerich kicked things off.

The first round was quiet.

Fortunately for the Hawks, junior Lydia Beachy scored in the second round of the shootout, followed by senior Emily Curtiss to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

Senior Evangeline Marner kept the momentum rolling with a fourth-round score, giving the Hawks a 3-2 lead heading into the fifth round.

A goal wins it for Mid-Prairie, a save means Columbus has a chance to tie the shootout and force extra rounds.

Karnes stepped in, removing her goalie jersey to display her normal uniform.

Karnes rocketed the ball into the net and raced to center field to celebrate with her teammates, officially ending the game with a 2-1 Hawk victory.

Karnes said: “I was pretty confident lining up for the kick, I do PK kicks at practice every day. As [head coach] Truman says, ‘kick it in the corner and no one’s going to get it.’”

“It feels amazing to get the home opening win tonight,” Karnes added before admitting it was a tad nerve-racking to enter the game so late for the shootout.

After the win, the Hawks moved to 2-1. They’ll take on Cedar Valley Christian on Thursday, April 11; Beckman Catholic on Friday, April 12 and then travel to West Branch on Monday, April 15 for their next three outings.