MOUNT VERNON – With the Mount Vernon girls soccer team clinging to a 2-1 lead in their first-ever home tournament game against Westerville South on Oct. 21, coach Bill Lonsinger made an observation.
“That's when I turned around to my assistant coach (Tyler Scott) and I said, ‘The next team that scores a goal will win this game because if (Westerville South) ties it up, the momentum is going to be on their side going into overtime,'” Lonsinger recalled.
Shortly after (19:29 of the second half), Mount Vernon junior McKenna Brokaw booted a goal off an assist from teammate Sidney Lyons, giving the Yellow Jackets’ a 3-1 lead. Mount Vernon added another goal later in the half to pick up a 4-1 victory over the Wildcats in a Division I district tournament first round game at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
“When we scored that third goal, that opened it up for us and allowed the fourth goal to happen,” Lonsinger said. “That was huge.”
The Jackets got that fourth goal (at 9:26 of the second half) on an indirect kick from Stella Bainbridge, who also scored in the first half, along with teammate Lexi Rapp.
The 4-1 win gave the Jackets their first tournament win since 2003 and their first home playoff win ever. Just as important, the win ensures the Jackets (9-7-1) will have a winning season for the first time since Lonsinger, now in his fourth season, became coach.
“I came here at a good time and I have to give a lot of credit to the youth program,” Lonsinger said. “The Sting helped. A lot of our kids started out with the Sting. Some of the clubs outside of Mount Vernon also helped. I have six girls that are committed to play club soccer over at Granville. For me, to have six girls commit to playing in Granville— and Granville High School might be the state champs this year and the coach is the club coach this year— that's big.”
Mount Vernon senior Klarisa Meka, who plays centerback, was a freshman during their 1-15 season. She started with the Sting 10 years ago.
"When I was a freshman, we only had a few of us starting in varsity,” Meka said. ”We had few upperclassmen. Not all of us played together before we came to high school, so the chemistry wasn't there yet. Our skills were not developed as much. I had a lot to learn myself.”
Rapp, a senior, has seen the program develop every step of the way.
“Last season was so tough because we thought we were going to have a year like this, but we came up short,” Rapp said. “I think we bonded over that. We really had the determination to play as best as we could this year. We really wanted a winning record.”
