By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Waterloo High School girls soccer team’s historic season came to an end on Thursday night, but not before a valiant effort that included two overtime periods and a penalty kick shootout.

In a heartbreaking loss, the Vikings fell to the Lakeview Bulldogs, 3-2, in the Division III, Akron 1 district championship.

The Vikings took a lead midway through the first half on a goal by Kaira English, but then gave up a pair of goals within eight minutes of each other to trail Lakeview 2-1 at halftime.

English sent home the equalizer in the second half, with 22 minutes to play, that knotted the score at 2-2. The goal came on a corner kick from Sydney Jackson that English headed in.

And that is exactly where it would stay for the next 22 minutes of regulation, 15 minutes of the first overtime period and 15 minutes of the second overtime period.

The Bulldogs sent home four goals in the shootout, while Waterloo managed two for Lakeview to earn the victory and district title.

In the loss, English’s pair of goals made her the all-time girls soccer scoring leader in Portage County history. English now has 145 career goals.

English had entered Thursday’s game tied for the career-goals lead in the county alongside Streetsboro’s Emma Flick (2018-2021) with 143. English now holds the county record alone.

Furthermore, English’s career total now ranks sixth all-time in Ohio high school girls soccer history.

English scored 39 goals as a freshman, 54 goals as a sophomore and scored 52 this season as a junior.