Photo by Cody Nespor Wheeling Park forward Merritt Delk, center, puts a shot on goal past a pair of Parkersburg defenders, including Addie Warman (5) Thursday.

WHEELING — Despite windy, cold and eventually rainy conditions on top of the hill at the Wheeling Park Athletic Complex, the homestanding Patriots were able to snag a win against visiting Parkersburg 2-1 Thursday evening.

Wheeling Park (9-3-1) received two goals from forward Merritt Delk and a stellar performance in goal by Ryleigh Hicks in the victory.

“Parkersburg is playing really, really well this season,” Park coach Carrie Hanna said. “I think they’re always really well-coached, it’s always a great soccer match and you saw it was 1-1 for quite some time. I felt that we had the better play, but you’ve got to finish those opportunities. We got the job done (Thursday) and we’re very happy with that.”

Delk got the hosts on the board early, scoring on an assist from Lauren Gongola with 31:54 showing on the scoreboard.

At that point of the evening, the sun was still shining bright on the new turf at the Patriots’ second home field. Shortly thereafter, however, the wind began to pick up and dark clouds started to roll in.

Parkersburg (7-3-3) held possession for long stretches of the game, but was unable to consistently generate chances on Park’s net.

When the Big Reds were finally able to generate a good look, striker Jenna Carpenter buried the equalizer with 2:18 remaining in the half.

At halftime is when the weather took a turn for the worst. The wind continued to blow and the temperature dropped considerably as the sun started setting beyond the horizon.

“I think it’s mental toughness and people get distracted by it,” Hanna said of the poor weather. “I was saying to my players ‘you’re not going to be cold if you score a goal.'”

Rain began to fall from a fast-moving shower midway through the secon half, exacerbated by the already high winds and cold temperature.

“When it’s kind of raining sideways, there’s nothing really you can prepare for except for coaches to remind them that the ball’s going to start to skip,” Hanna said.

Parkersburg got a beautiful shot on net at the 25-minute mark, but Hicks, as she had done all game, was in perfect position and made a stellar save. The Parkersburg player shot the ball high and it would have just snuck under the crossbar of the net, but Hicks leaped up to punch the ball harmlessly up and over.

“She’s worked very, very hard on judging those high balls and having that strong arm to power that over (the net),” Hanna said of her junior goaltender. “In her early years, some of those higher ones might have gone in or she might have not had the strength to get it up and over and out of danger.”

All told, Hicks made five stops to keep Pakrersburg at just one goal.

“She’s done a phenominal job this season, her confidence is everything,” Hanna said. “Ryleigh has put a lot of time in to improve her game technically. Tactically, she’s become a leader. She’s demanding, she’s directing and she came up with some huge saves for us both in the first half and the second half to secure the win.”

Soon after, the Patriots went on the counter attack. Casey Ticich got the ball to Delk, who worked to her left past two defenders and shot all the way back right past Parkersburg’s goalie for the go-ahead score.

“I think once we were more relaxed, we were more composed on the ball and found the space or the pass that we needed to hit to make the goals happen,” Hanna said.

The Big Reds continued to work the ball into Park territory, but never produced a great scoring chance over the remainder of the game.

Delk finished with both goals with assists by Gongola and Ticich. Hicks made five saves in net.

Wheeling Park will travel to play Woodrow Wilson on Saturday before the OVAC tournament begins next week.