APLINGTON – The Dike-New Hartford girls soccer team made sure it was worth the wait.
Set to begin their first season as an independent program last spring before schools shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wolverines’ delayed debut was no less impressive.
The Wolverines responded to an early strike by Aplington-Parkersburg with an offensive flurry in a 7-1 victory at the Aplington Soccer Complex on Tuesday, April 6.
“We were really excited to start and it sucked when COVID hit,” said Camille Landphair, who scored four goals for the Wolverines. “Finally being able to play a game meant a lot. … It’s exciting that we are gonna start our own legacy and that I’m able to be a part of that.”
Landphair added two assists. Sophia Hoffmann scored two goals and added four assists. Miranda Tyler had 13 saves and was also credited with an assist.
All of this came after A-P’s Carley Hook scored within the first 60 seconds of the game on an assist from McKenzie Boring.
Before three minutes had elapsed in the first half, the Wolverines had struck back twice on goals from Hoffmann and an own goal on a ball last touched by Landphair.
“We’ve been talking about learning from our mistakes,” D-NH head coach Kat Bering said. “Go forward, make sure it doesn’t happen again, and that’s what they did.”
D-NH stormed to a 6-1 lead at halftime and asserted the majority of possession the rest of the way.
Miranda Tyler made 13 saves in net for D-NH. Her counterpart, A-P’s Kaylee Johnson, made 22 stops.
“We’ve asked [Tyler] to be the commander-in-chief back there,” Bering said. “She’s a kind of sweeper-keeper that gives us an extra player on the field and stops those balls from going all the way back, saving our legs and getting us to go on the attack – the transition game is big for us.”
For D-NH players like Landphair that have played their fair share of youth and club soccer, it’s a long time coming to take the field as Wolverines. D-NH was most recently in a sharing agreement with Hudson through the 2019 season.
“We’ve been nonstop for the last two and a half weeks,” Bering added. “We want to outhustle, outplay, outlast. Our fitness level had to be up, and we did that today, and we did it with beautiful soccer.”
D-NH 7, A-P 1
April 6
Goals: D-NH, Camille Landphair 4, Sophia Hoffmann 2; A-P, Carley Hook. Assists: D-NH, Hoffmann 4, Landphair 2, Tyler 1; A-P, McKenzie Boring. Saves: D-NH, Tyler 13. A-P, Kaylee Johnson 22.
CYCLONES TWIST UP D-NH IN 2ND HALF: Denver broke a halftime tie with three second-half goals to defeat Dike-New Hartford girls soccer, 4-1, in the Wolverines’ first-ever home game at Dike-New Hartford Junior High on Friday, April 9.
Sophia Hoffmann scored the lone goal for D-NH on an assist from Camille Landphair. Miranda Tyler made 12 saves in net for the Wolverines.
D-NH fell to 1-1 overall. They played Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck on the road on Monday and return home on Thursday against South Tama.
