RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – Every Panther seemed to have the same reaction when the final whistle blew of Saturday afternoon’s 2-2 tie between Ramstein and Stuttgart, with many falling to the turf.

“I was relieved that Ramstein didn’t score (again),” Stuttgart center back Christian Groves said. “But I was confident that we could get that tie.”

Nobody would have faulted Groves and the Panthers (5-0-1, 4-0-1) if they weren’t so convinced during the match, however.

Leading 1-0 in the 35th minute, Stuttgart went down a man when Dom Tondre received a red card for extracurricular activity after the referee had stopped play.

Coach Michael Stevenson described how his team took the lead originally against the run of play when Alejandro Rivera pounced on a rebound in the 24th minute.

Now to hold on for 45 minutes after being on the back first for much of the first 35? That seemed like a tall task – one in which his Panthers succeeded.

“We were hanging on, and to get a red card, boy, we’re losing the possession battle and now we’re down a dude,” Stevenson said. “Ramstein is super good, so we’re very fortunate with the result we got.”

His counterpart, Ramstein’s Dominik Ludes, also expressed his contentment with the draw as his Royals (5-1-1, 4-1-1) dominated possession throughout. That control turned into almost one-way traffic after the red card.

“It felt like a championship game,” Ludes said. “Almost got it across the finish line. Overall, I’m very happy with the performance.”

The only positive Stevenson could take from the red card was it happened minutes before halftime. That gave the Panthers an opportunity to regroup and draw up new tactics to deploy in the second half.

That plan: abandon the right side completely and set two central defensive midfielders in front of a back five.

It worked early in the second half. The Panthers blocked shots from getting through to goalkeeper Zach Gelerter, who stepped between the sticks for the second half and recorded five saves.

The Royals eventually broke through via Joseph Yost. The striker acted like a poacher, cleaning up a pair of rebounds in the 57th and 65th minutes to give the Royals their first lead of the match.

“Right moment, right time – that’s all that it is,” Yost said of his goals. “Just hit it, just keep it on target, don’t do anything fancy.”

That lead was short lived.

In the 67th minute, Stuttgart’s James Sheppard got on the end of a long punt by Gelerter, turned his defender like a top, dribbled to the right and then shot left past Ramstein Elliot Radosevich for the equalizer.

“That really gave us hope to be able tie or maybe even win the game, which we didn’t,” Groves said. “We got hope, picked our heads back up that the game is not over yet.”

That goal gave the Panthers hope beyond Saturday’s contest.

The result means if Stuttgart beats Wiesbaden on May 10, the team will take the first seed into the DODEA European soccer championships on May 19-22 in the Kaiserslautern Military Community.

The Royals, meanwhile, picked up something just as important – belief they could come home with another title.

“It just gives us the confidence going into Euros that we have what we need to be able to win Euros again and defend our title,” Yost said.

Girls

Ramstein may have been down early in Saturday morning’s battle for first place with Stuttgart, but striker Claire Boynton had one piece of advice for her fellow Royals: “minor setback, major comeback.”

“I know that some girls were a little nervous going into the game,” Boynton said. “We have a younger backline, some freshmen were worried a little bit.

“I said that to lift the team energy up.”

It worked.

The Royals scored five unanswered goals to defeat the Panthers 5-1.

Ramstein (7-0, 6-0) clinched the top seed in the Division I European tournament in a few weeks with the victory.

“We know that Stuttgart loves to come out guns blazing,” Ramstein coach Frances Watson said. “We were ready to see what they were going to come back with because we had full confidence in them that they were going to come back with something amazing.”

It was a total team effort. Five Royals made the scoresheet.

After going down via a Meredith Fleming goal in the 20th minute, Ava Smith equalized in the 34th minute when a Kayla Groat low cross found her wide open at the far post.

Ramstein really turned in the screws during an 18-minute span in the second half with four goals.

It began when Stella Alderink scored a rebound that had bounced off the crossbar in the 44th minute. Three minutes later, midfielder Olivia Davis volleyed in a corner from captain Kyndra Brown.

In the 60th minute, Groat’s shot from the left wing slipped under Stuttgart keeper Sophia Sirad to make it 4-1, and then in the 62nd minute, Kylie Ascherl pulled back a pass to Boynton, with the senior slotting it home.

Boynton praised everyone in attack, especially Alderink, who’s new to the squad.

“(Alderink) came in here super duper nervous to the program, and we have been motivating and uplifting her all season,” Boynton said. “Just to see her score and the excitement on her face, it makes it all super worth it.”

The Panthers (4-1-1, 3-1-1) still had opportunities to get back into the match with seven shots on net.

The issue for them was Bailey Bennett. The ball seemed attracted to the Ramstein goalkeeper, who made four saves before halftime before being replaced.

Watson said Bennett was motivated after missing last year’s title match against Stuttgart with an injury.

“We were really excited to see what Bailey was capable of doing on the pitch today,” Watson said. “Bailey was able to come out and be that magnet and be the glue that stopped those balls.”

The Panthers, meanwhile, are taking the loss in stride, according to assistant coach Chris Kelly.

He said Stuttgart can’t afford to let up against Ramstein at all. Otherwise, it will end the same as Saturday’s result.

“I think they’re disappointed in their performance today, but they’re hopeful for the future,” Kelly said.

K-town Sports

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