Park standout hits milestone, Patriots top Brooke in tourney opener

WHEELING -- Merritt Delk entered Monday night's West Virginia Class AAA Region I, Section I girls sectional soccer tournament match needing just one goal to become Wheeling Park's all-time scorer. It didn't take her long to reach that lofty milestone, but the junior didn't stop there.

Delk, a University of Toledo commit, found the net four more times and Reese Moores added a goal as the second-seeded Patriots (15-4-1) rolled past No. 3 Brooke, 6-0, on the artificial pitch inside Wheeling Island Stadium.

With the five goals, Delk surpassed Emily Marshall's career mark of 104 that stood for a little more than two decades. Delk now has 109, but her only goal going forward is to beat top-seeded Morgantown on Wednesday.

"I definitely set this as one of my goals when I started playing high school soccer," the soft-spoken Delk said of becoming the all-time goal scorer in school history. "I broke the single-season record (held by Brianne Basilone) of 35 last year, but my only thought right now is beating Morgantown to advance to the regional finals and go to the state tournament."

Delk reached the coveted mark late in the third minute on the Patriots second shot. Lauren Gongola recorded the assist.

"Phenomenal. It's pretty exciting to coach a player that can score goals like that," Wheeling Park head coach Carrie Hanna said of Delk. "She is a really special player and she still has, hopefully, a few more games this season and her entire senior season yet."

Delk made it 2-0 in the 12th minute when she stormed down the left wing and used her left foot to tap the ball past Brooke goalkeeper Franki Neff. Casey Ticich earned the assist.

Delk completed her natural hat trick moments later when she looped the ball over a charging Neff from 25 yards out. The ball bounced once before tickling the twine. Kaylee Davis was credited with the assist for a 3-0 reading.

Four minutes later, Delk took a pass from Ticich and sent it into the cage with her left foot as the margin grew to 4-0 on eight shots.

Hanna said her team was ready to play.

"All the credit to Brooke. They came out with a good game plan but I think my girls were ready to start this state tournament run," she said.

Moores made it 5-0 in the 33rd minute off a helper by Allison Thomas.

The Bruins (8-12) didn't record their first shot until late in the 34th minute.

Both teams changed goalkeepers at halftime as the Patriots' Ryleigh Hicks was only credited with one save during her time between the pipes. She gave way to Riley Perry who stopped both shots she saw.

Neff made half-a-dozen saves during her time in goal. Hannah Buterbaugh had seven saves in the final 40 minutes.

Delk capped the scoring in the 52nd minute with her 35th of the season. Gongola added another assist.

"It is what it is. Year after year after year. They are a really good soccer team. They have a great feeder program," Brooke head coach Jack Minger said of the Patriots. "I thought we would give them a much better game than this, but it is what it is."

For Wheeling Park to reach the regional finals, Hanna said it must play better than it did Monday.

"We have to solve the puzzle. We've faced them two times and both times I kind of feel we beat ourselves," she stressed. "Morgantown has a really good team and sometimes it's unfortunate that we have to play this soon and one team has to knock the other team out. It's always going to be a battle.

"Hopefully, the third time's a charm."

Morgantown owns 1-0 and 2-1 wins earlier this campaign.