Photo by Cody Nespor Wheeling Park’s Merritt Delk, left, runs past Linsly defender Sydney Gilman (15). Delk scored the 100th goal of her high school career against the Cadets Thursday.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Park soccer teams swept a doubleheader against cross-town rival Linsly as part of the Cancer Research Classic inside Wheeling Island Stadium Thursday.

All proceeds from the two games were donated to breast cancer research and all four teams participated in a breast cancer awareness ceremony in between the two contests.

The Wheeling Park boys started the evening with a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Cadets and the Patriot girls followed that with a 2-0 triumph in which junior striker Merritt Delk scored the 100th goal of her career.

“It’s always a great game to play with the Cancer Research Classic,” Park girls coach Carrie Hanna said. “It’s just great for the community to get together.”

“It’s a rivalry game. In the 22 years I’ve been coaching, we’ve played them probably 30 times,” Park boys coach Mario Julian explained. “It’s usually a 50/50 match and you don’t know which way they’re going to go. (Thursday) we were on the good side of it.”

Photo by Cody Nespor
Wheeling Park’s Manny Juanez, left, works the ball around Linsly’s Agustin Fonseca (8).

The Park boys held a 1-0 lead at halftime thanks to a first-half goal from Brody Wall. The second-half was a face-paced showcase of skill from both sides.

Linsly’s Agustin Forseca scored the equalizer four minutes into the half to knot the game at 1-1.

Neither team established prolonged possession in the half as the ball was kept in near-perpetual motion.

The Patriots got the break they needed to pull ahead inside of 10 minutes on a corner kick. The initial kick hit off a player’s head and found the foot of Luke Dunaway, who put it into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.

“I thought there was a lot of action out there,” Julian said. “Each team had chances to score and we got a lucky bounce there with basically a shot deflection into the back corner.”

The Cadets continued to fight hard through the final buzzer, but never got the chance they needed to re-tie the game.

“We’ve been on the opposite of thse games where the ball goes in on us after the kids played their hearts out,” Julian said. “I’m sure Linsly’s disappointed in the result, but their kids played great.”

Linsly coach Greg Martin was unavailable for postgame comment as he was tending to an injured player.

The Park girls nealy got off to a fast start in the nightcap, as a shot hit off the left post and deflected out of the goal less than two minutes into the game.

Linsly’s first shot came in the 18th minute and was turned away by the formidable Ryleigh Hicks in Park’s goal.

The Patriots capitalized on a golden opportunity when Delk, sitting on 99 career goals, was awarded a free kick at the 16:24 mark. Delk, who set the school’s single-season goals record last season, buried the shot for the 100th time in her high school career for a 1-0 lead.

“It’s very exciting,” Hanna said. “You’re lucky when you’re a coach that has a consistent goal-scorer like that. She loves to score goals and her teammates around her support her very well to feed her and give her those opportunities.”

Delk is set to continue her goal-scoring ways at the next level as she recently verbally committed to the University of Toledo.

“Wheeling Park’s always tough,” Linsly girls coach Chuck Neighoff said. “We had a little bit of a rough time getting the ball moving early on and you can’t let Merritt Delk have free kicks like that, she’s going to finish one at least.”

Park’s Adlie Abraham made it a 2-0 lead, scoring on a breakaway at the 12:09 mark.

“It was really hard-fought by Linsly, we just capitalized on the few opportunities we were given,” Hanna said.

The Patriots controlled the ball for the majority of the contest, but Linsly’s defense gave up very few quality looks on goal. When the Patriots did get a shot off, Linsly keeper Arabella Andy made six saves, including one on Delk with 23:57 to play in the second half.

“Park had the advantage of possession, but our defense has been very well-organized all year,” Neighoff said.

On the other side of the field, the Cadets’ offensive chances were few and far between, too few to get past Hicks, who continued a strong season with another shutout.

“I knew it would take more than five or six shots to get past (Hicks),” Neighoff said. “We didn’t generate that many opportunities or quality shots to get past her. We had a few good chances, but she made some nice saves.”

Hicks made a save on a penalty kick in the 20th minute of the second half, and the Cadets never had a chance that good for the remainder of the game.

Both Linsly teams will play at East Fairmont on Saturday. The Wheeling Park boys will host Cabell-Midland on Saturday and the girls will welcome Washington.