The Lady Warriors celebrate after earning their first victory since 2012. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – It was August 21, 2013. There was 11 minutes and 58 seconds left in the first half of a 0-0 game against West Noble. Savannah Schwartz, then a sophomore, pinpointed a corner kick to teammate Caitlin Clevenger who found the back of the net to give the Wawasee girls soccer team its first and only goal of a season that would see no victories.

Flash forward to Monday night at Warrior Field against Lakeland. There were a lot of questions to be answered by Wawasee in the season opener. Could they win? Could they even score? The Lady Warriors came out inspired and answered very emphatically, “Yes we can.”

Wawasee tripled its 2013 output in one game, scoring three goals against the visiting Lakers to claim a 3-1 victory. The win also snapped a 26-game losing streak dating back to September 5, 2012.

The weight was lifted by Wawasee sophomore Brooklyn McCulloch in the ninth minute of the opening half. McCulloch used nice footwork, something she did all game, to net Wawasee’s first goal since last August. There were 362 calendar days and over 1260 minutes of soccer played between goals for the Lady Warriors.

“It’s exciting,” remarked Wawasee head coach Doug Heinisch after his first career win. “This is really just a continuation of last year. We made progress and worked in the off-season and this is the result.

“We’re capable of being better than what we were today. We have to keep working hard. We kind of got the monkey off of our back right away so right now I’m just really happy for our kids.”

Sarah Lancaster thought she added Wawasee’s second goal of the day a few minutes later but was called offside. The frustration was clear on the junior’s face, and she responded in a big way.

Lancaster waited for another opportunity to present itself and when it did, she took advantage. The junior forward netted her first career goal with 26:05 left to play in the game. Wawasee was riding high up 2-0, but Lakeland made things interesting.

Katie Levitz erased the Lakers goose egg with 10:50 to play, making the score 2-1.

Lakeland then had a chance to knot the game up after Wawasee was called for a hand ball inside the box. Junior keeper Nicole Streby made a diving stop to keep Wawasee ahead and swing the momentum back in favor of the home team.

Lancaster took charge not long after and added her second goal thanks to a fantastic assist from sophomore Leigh-Ann Shrack with 5:57 to play. Though there was still a lot of time left, Lakeland had checked out emotionally and Wawasee rode the momentum out until the final horn.

“After my freshman and sophomore year, I finally got the goal that I wanted,” Lancaster said with a smile when asked about her first goal. “It was just a feeling of relief with that first goal. After the second goal, I realized that we were actually going to win a game and I knew it was because we worked as a team and earned it together.”

Before Monday’s games the Lady Warriors huddled together and broke it by yelling, “Fight like a Warrior!” There is a lot of soccer to played this season, but if any opponent on Wawasee’s schedule was questioning whether or not the Lady Warriors could put up a fight, the answer is without a doubt, yes they can.

Shrack made an impact for the shorthanded Lady Warrior squad in the junior varsity match by scoring a goal to help Wawasee’s JV tie Lakeland 1-1.