Triad Remains Perfect In MVC With Win Over Waterloo

TROY, Ill. – The Triad High School girls soccer team beat their Mississippi Valley Conference rivals, Waterloo, by a score of 5-1 back on April 8.

The Knights hosted the conference rematch Thursday night, and Triad head coach Matt Betlach knew the previous scoreline did not reflect how closely that game was played.

“Waterloo brings it every time we play them,” Betlach said.

“Our message tonight before the game was that the 5-1 game we had in Waterloo won’t happen tonight.”

Waterloo brought everything it had but came up short in the end as Triad remained unbeaten in the MVC, clinching at least a share of the conference title with a 2-0 win.

The Knights have MVC dates with Civic Memorial and Jersey next week to close out the MVC schedule as they aim for a perfect conference record.

Waterloo falls to 10-5-2 on the season and 6-2 in the MVC, both losses to Triad. The Knights are now 12-4 overall.

Triad got off to a dream start, finding an opening goal in just the third minute when Maddie Conreux converted from Alina Ayran’s corner kick to make it 1-0. It was her third goal of the season and Ayran’s seventh assist.

From there, Triad took the foot off the gas until halftime. The only other chance on goal in the first half for the Knights was when London Looby’s shot was saved in the 13th minute from Ayran’s low-driven pass across the six-yard box.

The score remained 1-0 at halftime.

“Still had some chances, but I felt like the game was slipping away from us,” Betlach said. “Sloppy play on our part; we had too many bad passes, too many turnovers. We were hurting ourselves.”

Triad’s keeper, Payton Hartman, made one of her better saves of the night in the 61st minute, fighting off a shot from distance, pushing it over the crossbar for a corner kick.

Hartman made seven saves on the night in her 10th shutout of the season.

Senior captain Emma Correale had a chance to double the lead in the 68th minute when she timed her run perfectly onto a through ball, splitting the defense and having only the keeper to beat, but sophomore goalie Makayla Gummersheimer was up to the task to keep it a one-goal game.

But not for long.

Triad made it 2-0 in the 71st minute thanks to Looby’s shot into the bottom right corner from inside the 18-yard box. Sophia Bohnak was credited with the assist as the goal seemingly confirmed the game’s result.

Although it was a shutout win, Betlach said that it wasn’t his team’s cleanest performance.

“We had chances to finish, and we didn’t finish them,” he said. “That’s another talking point that we’ve had for a while now. When we don’t finish our chances and we let teams stick around, their confidence builds, and then we start making mistakes. You can’t do that against Waterloo.”

“This rivalry is tough; you’ve got to come to play every time,” he continued.

Both Triad and Waterloo earned No. 1 seeds in the upcoming postseason. They could meet again in the sectional championship, a game that Waterloo hosts. Triad hosts the super-sectional.

The Knights have now won seven straight over the Bulldogs. The last time Waterloo won was on April 4, 2023, a 1-0 home win. Waterloo was Triad’s only loss in the 2021-22 season as the Knights finished a 25-1 season with an IHSA Class 2A state title. Triad finished second at state a year ago.

“I wish we were a little bit better tonight. I know what this team is capable of,” Betlach said. “So, I just hope that that team in a couple of weeks decides to show up for the playoffs and sticks to it.”

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