Rapids Women Win in overtime

By: Alex Husting

The Rapids Men(4-11), were dismantled by the Fayetteville Fury(13-2-1) in a 13-2 defeats as the Fury extended their lead in the NISl Men’s Division standing. The Rapids Women (5-10) went to overtime once again, but this time they came away with the victory 4-3 over the Fury Women(4-12).

Match 1

The Rapids Men were on the pitch first once again tonight, looking to find any rhythm after being shutout against the Fury 10 days ago.

Unfortunately for Columbus, tonight was more of the same. The Fury jumped out to a two goal lead in the first quarter and doubled that production in the second, taking a 6-0 lead into the locker room. 

In the last six quarters up to that point, the Rapids were outscored 13-0. That stretch went to 14 after the Fury struck first in the third quarter, but the Rapids finally got on the board when Sammy Valdvia scored on an assist from Akolade Gbadebo.

The Fury scored two more times in the third quarter before Manny Chavez scored the second and final goal of the match for the Rapids. The Fury struck double digits with a fourth goal in the third quarter, giving them a 10-2 lead.

Fayetteville added two more in the fourth quarter to round out a dominant victory. The Fury had complete control from the opening horn, breaking their goals record with a 12-2 win. 

The Rapids Men are still trying to find their groove on offense after going cold in the last three matches. They will have another chance to right the ship on Tuesday when they travel to Memphis to take on the Americans. 

Match 2

The Rapids Women traveled to Fayetteville after suffering a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat in overtime against this same Fury Women. This time around, however, the Rapids were on the winning end of a 4-3 overtime match in the NISL.

The team started out on the attack with Brianna Conely striking first in the first minute of the match to give Columbus a 1-0 lead.

Emily Burke capped off the quarter with a goal of her own to extend the lead and go into the second quarter with a 2-0 lead.

The second quarter was scoreless between both teams and the Rapids carried that 2-0 into the locker room. The same occurred in the third quarter as both defenses started to lock down the opposing offenses and all of this led to the final quarter of action.

The Rapids scored first with a brilliant assist from Brianna Conley to Emily Burke for her second goal of the day, putting the Rapids up by three.

The Fury Women went on the counterattack with three unanswered goals to tie the match up and send it to overtime, the second straight sudden death overtime for these two teams. 

With just over four minutes remaining in overtime, Conley tried to seal the victory with a shot that ricocheted off of Fury defender Kate Weisner and into the Fayetteville goal. The Rapids survived sudden death with a 4-3 victory and will look to carry this momentum with them on Tuesday when they travel to Memphis. 

Tickets for that match are available here.

You can watch both matches in their entirety on the NISL Youtube Channel season tickets for all Rapids remaining home games are on sale here.

ABOUT NATIONAL INDOOR SOCCER LEAGUE (NISL):

The National Indoor Soccer League, which has its league office in Georgia, was founded in January 2021 by a group of experienced sports team/league owners with over 40 years of ownership experience. The NISL has plans to grow the league nationally within the next three years and will kick off its inaugural season in December 2021. The league will operate a Men's & Women's division with each market fielding both teams. Fans will be able to watch a men’s and women’s game each gameday.  For more information, go to nislpro.com.