The 2026 Clear Fork Colts girls soccer team’s season came to an end Tuesday, Nov. 3, with a tough 2-1 loss to Liberty Benton in the Division IV regional semifinals. While the final score stings, the real headline isn’t the defeat. It’s the staggering 16-3-2 record this team managed to pull off, all while battling an avalanche of adversity that would have crushed most squads.
Heartbreak on the Pitch, Pride in the Fight
Yeah, the Colts walked off Tiffin’s Frost-Kalnow Stadium pitch with tears in their eyes, losing a game where they actually held a halftime lead. Maci Roberts put them up 1-0 in the first half, off an assist from Brea Bieri, and you could feel the fight. Coach Brittany Bechtel even said they were putting more pressure on in the second half, but Liberty Benton, who Bechtel called “probably the best possessional team we have played all year,” found the net twice to seal the win. It is a tough pill to swallow, no doubt, especially when you went down swinging. Bechtel felt it too, saying, “It is weird, I feel at piece. We went down fighting and I am happy for the season these seniors enjoyed. It is such a special group that I love dearly and have been coaching since they were seven years old. They went down swinging and finished one heck of a year.”
Four ACL Tears That Couldn’t Stop Them
Here’s the gut-punch that makes their 16-3-2 record legendary: The Colts lost *four* potential starters before or early in the season to ACL injuries. Senior captain Asia Bechtel went down in the first nine minutes of the *first game*. Returning leading scorer Mya Perry, also a senior, got hit with an ACL injury. Senior Layla Daugherty tore hers too. And junior Kendall Baughman was out before the season even started. Four players, all major contributors, gone. It’s almost unbelievable.
But here’s what they did: They won a district championship, their 10th in program history! They did it with a roster stacked with young players, including five freshmen, who stepped up big time. Bechtel summed it up perfectly: “The ability to just level up across our field was magical. We lost Asia, Mya, Layla, and Kendall right out of the gate and I ask myself if we would be the team we are with them. I feel like people leveled up in places they wouldn’t have without those losses. I will always wonder what kind of team we would be if we had all of our puzzle pieces, but I believe the loss of them made players play at a level they never would have. I have never had a season quite like this one.” Even Bechtel herself questioned if she had what it took, nearly asking her assistant, Chris Laux, to take over after her daughter Asia’s injury. Talk about fighting through it! And shoutout to Sylvia Secrist who played some standout defense all season.
This team, with its incredible grit and next-level resilience, showed everyone what “never giving up” really means. They didn’t just play through adversity, they thrived in it, leaving behind a season that’ll be talked about for years. What a ride, Colts. What a ride.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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