RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – The Wiesbaden girls soccer team experienced a gamut of emotions following its 4-1 victory over Vilseck on Tuesday afternoon.

The match marked the final of pool play and the Warriors’ last chance to punch a place into the semifinals of the DODEA Division I European championships. It came after tying SHAPE in an opening match and then dropping a 3-2 decision earlier Tuesday.

With SHAPE also beating Vilseck on Tuesday, goal differential was going to be the difference.

The problem was the Warriors (6-2-2) believed they had fallen short when the final whistle blew at Ramstein High School. The players fell to the ground looking distraught.

That disappointment changed to jubilation some 10 minutes later, when they realized their goal differential was two. SHAPE’s, meanwhile, was 0.

“It’s very uplifting to know we made it to the semifinals,” Wiesbaden coach Tabitha Wildermuth said. “That’s what we wanted. We wanted to make to Wednesday and make it to Thursday.”

It really wasn’t that dramatic in the end.

Wiesbaden had surpassed the Spartans (2-7-1) before halftime, as Sophia St. Laurent scored a hat trick in a short span right before the break. Then Hannah Bucheit added a fourth goal in the second half to seal the deal.

“We’re really excited,” St. Laurent said. “I was trying so hard to get some points to push us so that we could make it this far.”

After the deflating draw with SHAPE on Monday, the Warriors needed a boost, and they got it earlier Tuesday during the loss to Stuttgart (10-1).

Wiesbaden took the lead through a Loren Venton goal, causing the Panther bench to have some choice words with its players. Then, despite being down a goal at the break, St. Laurent equalized in the second half before the Panthers managed to get the game winner.

After being shut out against Stuttgart during the regular season, the performance helped not only keep the goal differential low heading into the last match, but also aided the Warriors’ confidence.

“It boosted our egos because they haven’t seen the new team and how we play together,” St. Laurent said. “It was really good to see they got angry when we were doing better than them in the beginning.”

In her first season at Wiesbaden, St. Laurent has proven to be quite the weapon.

The junior from Townsend, Mass., has found her shooting boots from distance, as evidenced during her trio against the Falcons. All three came from outside the 18-yard box.

“She’s one of our range shooters,” Wildermuth said. “We switched her up to striker today because we wanted her aggression at striker, but we realized that she might have been too close to the goal.”

The Warriors advance to take on top-seeded Ramstein at Ramstein High School. The match begins at noon.

The other semifinal will see Stuttgart face Kaiserslautern. That match kicks off at 10 a.m.

SHAPE boys squeak past Ramstein for third time

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – SHAPE coach Erika Aquino stared at substitute Gabe Allison on the bench when he asked her what would happen if the Spartans and Ramstein tied their pool-play match on Tuesday at Kaiserslautern High School.

Aquino was flabbergasted. Not because she didn’t know the tiebreakers, but instead because the Spartans never considered a draw a possibility.

“He was like, ‘I’m just asking.’ I was like, ‘Not an option. We are not tying. We are winning,’” Aquino said.

The question came because the match was scoreless halfway through the second half. But that winning mentality showed as the Spartans pulled out a 1-0 victory over the Royals to clinch the top spot in Pool B.

Ramstein (7-4) booked its ticket into the semifinals with a 7-0 rout of Vilseck in the last match of the day.

For 45 minutes, though, the Royals gave the Spartans (9-1) fits. Two or three defenders seemingly collapsed around every SHAPE player who ventured into the final third with the ball, limiting chances.

Ramstein also missed multiple opportunities to find the back of the net. In the 10th minute, Striker Joseph Yost got behind the defense thanks to a through ball by Maxim Speed, but SHAPE goalkeeper Garrett Duvall came off his line for the save.

Then, in the 17th minute, Royal junior Kelan Vaughn’s header from a Keiran Goodall free kick clattered off the post before being cleared.

All it took for the Spartans was one moment, though.

In the 46th minute, a ball bounced over the Ramstein defense and into the path of Charles Geib. The senior striker then chipped the ball over a charging Elliot Radosevich to score the match’s lone goal.

“It was a frustrating game since I wasn’t getting a lot of chances, but finally getting the breakthrough and scoring, that was really something,” Geib said.

This type of action isn’t new for Geib, according to Aquino.

In fact, a trend has emerged with the Böblingen, Germany, native, where he scores right before being substituted.

“Somehow that kid always just gets (a goal) in right before I’m ready to take him out,” Aquino said. “I already had Ramon (Paz) ready to go, and I turned around and knew he was going to chip it just right.”

With the win, SHAPE advances to face Kaiserslautern in one Wednesday semifinal. Kickoff is at 10 a.m. at Kaiserslautern High School.

Ramstein will face off against top seed and defending champion Stuttgart, with kickoff at noon.

The Spartans and Raiders clashed on March 16, with SHAPE winning handily, 7-0. The Spartans cautioned against overconfidence, stating Kaiserslautern has proven to be a much better team than the one that took the field earlier this spring.

“We say every game is like a final,” Geib said. “We just want to play our game and hope for the best.”

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• DODEA European Soccer Championships