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Goals seemed to come in bunches Wednesday evening in G.M. Tennant Stadium. Unfortunately for Polk County, too many of those bunches had an orange hue.

 

Chapman built a four-goal lead, then weathered a Polk County rally to claim a 5-2 win over the Wolverines in a non-conference girls soccer match that kicked off a six-match homestand for Polk.

 

Chapman’s Taryn Rogers scored the game’s first goal on a beautiful drive from the left wing, outracing a defender to a free ball and hitting a first touch from some 20 yards out that soared into the back right corner of the net.

 

Rogers then added another goal some 12 minutes later, with Adeline West striking against just 40 seconds after Rogers’ tally. Rogers then struck once more in the waning minutes before halftime, winning a breakaway for a long pass and sliding her third goal into an open net to give Chapman (7-2) a 4-0 halftime lead.

 

But Polk County (6-2) had some offensive fireworks of its own to come in the second half. The Wolverines scored their first goal when Elena Carroll headed a pass into the penalty area. Hayden Blackwell and the Chapman goalkeeper Karsyn Whitesides converged on the ball, with Blackwell able to tip it out of Whitesides’ hands. She then poked the loose ball into the net to cut the Panther lead to 4-1.

 

Less than a minute later, Blackwell scored again. Susanna Ashworth’s long throw-in found the head of Carroll, who flicked a header to Blackwell’s feet just in front of the Chapman goal. Blackwell quickly directed the pass into the net to trim the deficit to 4-2.

 

Polk continued to press for another goal, but Whitesides and the Chapman defense held firm, and the Panthers added a late score for the final margin.

 

The Wolverines return to Tennant Stadium on Thursday, hosting East Rutherford for a Mountain Foothills 7 Conference match set to kick off at 6 p.m.