{"id":209545,"date":"2026-08-31T20:50:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T01:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=209545"},"modified":"2026-08-31T20:50:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T01:50:37","slug":"vw-girls-soccer-breaks-into-the-win-column","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/08\/31\/vw-girls-soccer-breaks-into-the-win-column\/","title":{"rendered":"VW girls soccer breaks into the win column"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, a difficult decision was made at Van Wert High School \u2013 due ongoing struggles on the field, it was decided to step back from varsity girls soccer for a few seasons. The team had gone 0-16 (0-9 WBL) in 2024 and hadn\u2019t won a match since the 2021 season, when the squad finished 1-15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the pause button was hit on varsity play, the program didn\u2019t shut down completely. Instead, it was agreed that the team would play at the junior varsity level to allow the program to become more competitive. Judging by Monday night\u2019s result, the program is making strides on the road to improvement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing at home, the Cougars recorded their first girls soccer win, varsity or junior varsity in four seasons with a 3-2 victory over Lima Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alianna Estrada scored the first goal of the game in the opening half and put Van Wert ahead 1-0, with the assist going to Alex Showalter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe netted the first goal for a change and watched the girls’ confidence just explode,\u201d an elated head coach Ashley Showalter said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Van Wert’s girls soccer team (front row, left to right): Alianna Estrada, Ariya McCoy, Cassidy Davis, Liberty Roth, Ava Elston, Kimberly Ramirez, and Caroline Kelly. Back row: Coach Ashley Showalter, Alexandria Showalter, Lilly Mason, Kevina Dotson, Deveigh Miller, Arkana Rodriguez, Aaliyah Leal, Stella Hoskins, and assistant coach Freddy Rodriguez. Photo provided <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Lima Sr. tied the game 1-1 by halftime with a goal by Amya Armstead. However, Lilly Mason put the Cougars ahead 2-1 in the second half with the first of her two goals, assisted by Showalter. Lima Sr. was able to tie it up 2-2 on a goal by Loudjina David, but Mason came through with what provided to be the game winner, with the assist going to Stella Hoskins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estrada and Showalter each had eight shots on goal and Mason had seven. Showalter had a penalty kick that just hit wide off the left crossbar. Deveigh Maller finished with 15 saves in the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoach Freddy (Rodriguez) and I knew there was something different about this season and we just couldn’t put our finger on what it was,\u201d Showalter said. \u201cI did the lineup and made some some serious changes for this game at the shock of some of the players, but it worked. As we watched it from the sideline we knew the changes were firing exactly in the order we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been a long time coming and it is owed to everyone who has backed the program and told me to keep pushing over the past five years,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert (1-1) will return to action at home against Bath at 5 p.m. next Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports Last year, a difficult decision was made at Van Wert High School \u2013 due ongoing struggles on the field, it was decided to step back from varsity girls soccer for a few seasons. The team had gone 0-16 (0-9 WBL) in 2024 and hadn\u2019t won a match since the 2021 season, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-09 22:57:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209545"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209549,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209545\/revisions\/209549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}