- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,152,750
- Reaction score
- 59
Conventional wisdom says having the wind at your back creates the kind of favorable conditions that lead to goals and momentum.
Saturday afternoon at Rogers State University’s Soldier Field in Claremore, Oologah proved the opposite can be just as true.
Battling a relentless 19-mph southerly headwind for the entirety of the first half, senior Rylen Walters turned two perfectly weighted through balls into goals, lifting the Lady Mustangs to their second state championship in three seasons with a 2-1 victory over Cascia Hall in the Class 3A title game.
Oologah [17-1] previously captured the Class 4A crown in 2024 with a 2-1 victory over Weatherford. Saturday’s triumph also marked the third state title for coach Sam Bowers in six championship-game appearances as a coach.
“Our whole philosophy was we wanted to go into the wind in the first half,” Bowers said. “We don’t play a lot of kids, and it’s 90 degrees out here with a big field, so we wanted it to be easier to defend in the second half. Sometimes you attack better going into the wind, and it just worked out perfectly.”
Walters scored both goals in a little more than nine minutes despite conditions that made advancing the ball into the wind a challenge all afternoon.
Allie Charloe started the breakthrough at the 32:09 mark of the first half, launching a deep through ball that carried over the Lady Commando defense and cut directly through the gusting wind. Walters raced onto it for a one-on-one opportunity and buried the finish for a 1-0 lead.
Trynity McElhenny duplicated the formula less than 10 minutes later.
Her long pass again found Walters in stride behind the defense at the 22:56 mark, and the senior calmly converted another one-on-one chance to double the advantage.
“I like it over the top, I like to run, I like to challenge and I like to be challenged,” said Walters, who transitioned from being a defender to an offensive player at the beginning of the year. “I beat her to the ball, I had that goalie come out, I picked my side and I wasn’t about to have a repeat of the semis. I slotted it into the left side, and the other one right over the goalkeeper — just chipped it in. Everything in me whenever I’m going to the goal is telling me I’m going to put it into the back of the net. I have full faith in myself, which is 90% of the play.
“It was just skill, God and focus.”
Those two plays changed the complexion of a match that otherwise heavily favored Cascia Hall territorially in the opening half.
The Lady Mustangs managed just 2 shots before halftime — both goals — while the Lady Commandos piled up 10 first-half attempts thanks largely to the wind pinning Oologah deep in its own end.
Repeated clearing attempts by the Lady Mustangs stalled in the air or drifted backward, forcing them into a defense-heavy approach rarely seen during a postseason run in which they had outshot previous playoff opponents 84-16 combined.
In all, Oologah goalkeeper Sam Sappington was forced into 6 saves on 15 total shots. The Lady Mustangs finished with 8 shots, their first time under double-digit attempts this postseason.
“It’s not something I’m used to because I have a really steady defense and a really good offense,” Sappington said. “It’s pretty different, but it’s fun. A lot funner than standing around.”
However, Cascia Hall [14-4] finally capitalized on the weather advantage late in the half.
With 1:42 remaining before halftime, Claire Barr launched a 40-yard free kick that carried over Sappington’s head and into the net, trimming Oologah’s lead to 2-1 entering the break.
Still, Sappington’s play throughout the afternoon proved critical to preserving the advantage.
Facing perhaps the heaviest workload she has seen all season, the sophomore goalkeeper repeatedly navigated crowded scoring areas and delivered several key saves to keep the Lady Commandos from equalizing.
One of her biggest moments came around the 16-minute mark of the first half, when she deflected a London Ward free kick before Lily Kennedy’s rebound attempt sailed just wide left.
Sappington also batted away a dangerous Sophia Reyes attempt off a Barr corner kick with 8:30 remaining in the half and later smothered a close-range shot from Reyes inside the box at the 4:15 mark.
Cascia Hall continued pushing after halftime, but Sappington answered again midway through the second half with a diving save on a Ward shot generated off another Barr corner kick with 18:50 left.
“It just has to do with repetition and practice,” Sappington said. “I am focused and locked in on the game and not paying attention to the crowd. I just gotta block them out, find the ball and do what I do.”
Of course, the Lady Mustangs nearly added insurance multiple times in the second half.
Between the 32- and 31-minute marks, Walters and Brynlee Sweet each narrowly missed close-range chances.
Sweet later had a shot from the top left of the box deflected just as she struck it at the 28-minute mark, while Lyla Thomason’s 30-yard free kick was caught by goalkeeper Gracyn Weber with 24:15 remaining.
Avlynn Hill nearly added another goal with a 35-yard attempt that drifted with 16:20 left.
The Lady Commandos' final dangerous opportunity came with 5:40 remaining, when Ward delivered a cross through the box that barely sailed over the head of an open teammate on the backside in a sequence that likely would have resulted in an equalizer had the pass connected cleanly.
“The only word I can use to explain my team is grit,” Walters said. “We have pure grit. Everybody out here wants to win, everybody has fight in them and there’s no losing. Losing is not an option for us. Everybody can rise to the occasion. I trust every one of my girls.
“I knew if we let up for one second, they were going to execute,” she added about Cascia Hall, complimenting the team’s talent. “London is a beautiful soccer player, an incredible girl and has so much talent. That’s why I was yelling quite a bit trying to get my team hyped up because I knew if we let them run free, they’re going to make us regret it. But they didn’t because we have grit.”
Charloe, who entered the championship with 7 of Oologah’s 14 postseason goals, did not record a shot attempt Saturday. Even so, her early assist against the wind helped establish the blueprint the Lady Mustangs used.
Once Charloe showed the long ball could still work in those conditions, teammates like McElhenny followed suit.
That adjustment ultimately delivered another championship trophy to Oologah.
“If you get it up in the air, the wind’s going to hold it up just enough to stay away from the keeper and allow our girls to run under it,” Charloe said. “Rylen is so fast, and she can outrun any girl on this field.
“[Both championships] are great, but I think doubling it makes it that much better,” she added when asked how this title compares to the one from 2024. “Especially with all the people who doubted us after losing Layney [Molini], it feels good to prove everyone wrong.”
Continue reading...
Saturday afternoon at Rogers State University’s Soldier Field in Claremore, Oologah proved the opposite can be just as true.
Battling a relentless 19-mph southerly headwind for the entirety of the first half, senior Rylen Walters turned two perfectly weighted through balls into goals, lifting the Lady Mustangs to their second state championship in three seasons with a 2-1 victory over Cascia Hall in the Class 3A title game.
Oologah [17-1] previously captured the Class 4A crown in 2024 with a 2-1 victory over Weatherford. Saturday’s triumph also marked the third state title for coach Sam Bowers in six championship-game appearances as a coach.
“Our whole philosophy was we wanted to go into the wind in the first half,” Bowers said. “We don’t play a lot of kids, and it’s 90 degrees out here with a big field, so we wanted it to be easier to defend in the second half. Sometimes you attack better going into the wind, and it just worked out perfectly.”
Walters scored both goals in a little more than nine minutes despite conditions that made advancing the ball into the wind a challenge all afternoon.
Allie Charloe started the breakthrough at the 32:09 mark of the first half, launching a deep through ball that carried over the Lady Commando defense and cut directly through the gusting wind. Walters raced onto it for a one-on-one opportunity and buried the finish for a 1-0 lead.
Trynity McElhenny duplicated the formula less than 10 minutes later.
Her long pass again found Walters in stride behind the defense at the 22:56 mark, and the senior calmly converted another one-on-one chance to double the advantage.
“I like it over the top, I like to run, I like to challenge and I like to be challenged,” said Walters, who transitioned from being a defender to an offensive player at the beginning of the year. “I beat her to the ball, I had that goalie come out, I picked my side and I wasn’t about to have a repeat of the semis. I slotted it into the left side, and the other one right over the goalkeeper — just chipped it in. Everything in me whenever I’m going to the goal is telling me I’m going to put it into the back of the net. I have full faith in myself, which is 90% of the play.
“It was just skill, God and focus.”
Those two plays changed the complexion of a match that otherwise heavily favored Cascia Hall territorially in the opening half.
The Lady Mustangs managed just 2 shots before halftime — both goals — while the Lady Commandos piled up 10 first-half attempts thanks largely to the wind pinning Oologah deep in its own end.
Repeated clearing attempts by the Lady Mustangs stalled in the air or drifted backward, forcing them into a defense-heavy approach rarely seen during a postseason run in which they had outshot previous playoff opponents 84-16 combined.
In all, Oologah goalkeeper Sam Sappington was forced into 6 saves on 15 total shots. The Lady Mustangs finished with 8 shots, their first time under double-digit attempts this postseason.
“It’s not something I’m used to because I have a really steady defense and a really good offense,” Sappington said. “It’s pretty different, but it’s fun. A lot funner than standing around.”
However, Cascia Hall [14-4] finally capitalized on the weather advantage late in the half.
With 1:42 remaining before halftime, Claire Barr launched a 40-yard free kick that carried over Sappington’s head and into the net, trimming Oologah’s lead to 2-1 entering the break.
Still, Sappington’s play throughout the afternoon proved critical to preserving the advantage.
Facing perhaps the heaviest workload she has seen all season, the sophomore goalkeeper repeatedly navigated crowded scoring areas and delivered several key saves to keep the Lady Commandos from equalizing.
One of her biggest moments came around the 16-minute mark of the first half, when she deflected a London Ward free kick before Lily Kennedy’s rebound attempt sailed just wide left.
Sappington also batted away a dangerous Sophia Reyes attempt off a Barr corner kick with 8:30 remaining in the half and later smothered a close-range shot from Reyes inside the box at the 4:15 mark.
Cascia Hall continued pushing after halftime, but Sappington answered again midway through the second half with a diving save on a Ward shot generated off another Barr corner kick with 18:50 left.
“It just has to do with repetition and practice,” Sappington said. “I am focused and locked in on the game and not paying attention to the crowd. I just gotta block them out, find the ball and do what I do.”
Of course, the Lady Mustangs nearly added insurance multiple times in the second half.
Between the 32- and 31-minute marks, Walters and Brynlee Sweet each narrowly missed close-range chances.
Sweet later had a shot from the top left of the box deflected just as she struck it at the 28-minute mark, while Lyla Thomason’s 30-yard free kick was caught by goalkeeper Gracyn Weber with 24:15 remaining.
Avlynn Hill nearly added another goal with a 35-yard attempt that drifted with 16:20 left.
The Lady Commandos' final dangerous opportunity came with 5:40 remaining, when Ward delivered a cross through the box that barely sailed over the head of an open teammate on the backside in a sequence that likely would have resulted in an equalizer had the pass connected cleanly.
“The only word I can use to explain my team is grit,” Walters said. “We have pure grit. Everybody out here wants to win, everybody has fight in them and there’s no losing. Losing is not an option for us. Everybody can rise to the occasion. I trust every one of my girls.
“I knew if we let up for one second, they were going to execute,” she added about Cascia Hall, complimenting the team’s talent. “London is a beautiful soccer player, an incredible girl and has so much talent. That’s why I was yelling quite a bit trying to get my team hyped up because I knew if we let them run free, they’re going to make us regret it. But they didn’t because we have grit.”
Charloe, who entered the championship with 7 of Oologah’s 14 postseason goals, did not record a shot attempt Saturday. Even so, her early assist against the wind helped establish the blueprint the Lady Mustangs used.
Once Charloe showed the long ball could still work in those conditions, teammates like McElhenny followed suit.
That adjustment ultimately delivered another championship trophy to Oologah.
“If you get it up in the air, the wind’s going to hold it up just enough to stay away from the keeper and allow our girls to run under it,” Charloe said. “Rylen is so fast, and she can outrun any girl on this field.
“[Both championships] are great, but I think doubling it makes it that much better,” she added when asked how this title compares to the one from 2024. “Especially with all the people who doubted us after losing Layney [Molini], it feels good to prove everyone wrong.”
Continue reading...
