Norwalk caps perfect SBC season

NORWALK — Lilly Farmer walked out of the locker room feeling like a queen. It's not the first time the goalkeeper for the Norwalk girls soccer team — or several of her teammates — have felt that way this season. Farmer was wearing a paper Burger King crown after her team's latest win, a 5-2 victory over visiting Port Clinton on Monday in a Sandusky Bay Conference match at Contractors Stadium. The win also improved the Truckers — who have no seniors on the roster — to 11-1 overall, and puts the cap on a perfect 9-0 record as the outright SBC champions. "It started last year after one of our big games, someone left a (Burger King) crown in the stands," Farmer said of the team tradition this season. "We picked it up, and ever since then, someone gets a crown after each game. "And now we have five crowns to pass around, and someone who played really well gets one after each game." Norwalk held a 1-0 lead at halftime after freshman Claire Spettle scored from about four yards out at the 35:04 mark of the first half. She added two more goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half to increase the Truckers' lead to 3-0, but things got tight. Port Clinton (5-8) was able to score twice, the last with 18:22 left, to pull within 3-2 as Norwalk's Amira Turner and Spettle briefly left the field with minor injuries. But once the Truckers were able to clear the ball out multiple times and go back on the attack, sophomore Audrey Sanders was there to finish. After being denied two scoring chances in the first half, Sanders was able to put away two breakaway goals with 2:42 left, and again with just 32 seconds remaining, to close out the scoring. "It feels really good to finish like that," Sanders said. "It's always nice when you can contribute in any way for the team. It was definitely exciting." Norwalk head coach Michelle Sandor was equally excited for Sanders. "It's been awesome to see Audrey grow this year," Sandor said. "I know she was frustrated with not scoring early on, and she had to take on a new position this year. That was a challenge for her, so it's great to see all of that. "She puts in a lot of work in the summer and outside of practice, and to see that all pay off for her has been rewarding, because of how much work she has put in." Sandor said being able to keep up the intensity late in matches has been a focus of the team this week. "We need to keep (our intensity) up, no matter the score," she said. "Don't back down or let up. I think the girls really try to follow through with that, and that's kind of what helped us push through to the end tonight. "They have so much grit, even as they are injured and kids are going down and rotating around — they all do what needs to be done." Abby Koenig finished with three assists and Taryn Temple had the other two for Norwalk, which still has three non-league matches remaining against Mapleton (9-2), Oak Harbor (9-3), Crestview (4-8) and Firelands (9-2-2). "I told them I didn't think I could have predicted an undefeated conference season, but they rose to the challenge put in front of them," Sandor said of her team. "They have so much desire to play hard for each other, and it has shown through. "Our captains — Abby, Lilly and Bella (Koelsch) — have been great leaders for us. I never have to question their work ethic or integrity on the field." Farmer said the perfect season in the league took a lot of dedication. The Truckers are now 52-2-3 with five league championships since joining the SBC in 2017. "And people said we couldn't do it because we had no seniors in a rebuilding year, and obviously we could," she said. "The dedication and the desire to win it all in the new SBC also gave us a new challenge. We accepted it as best we could, and we did."