FORTVILLE — Tuesday night was more than just a regular soccer match between Mt. Vernon and Delta.
For the third year in a row, the teams came together for the annual “Kick for a Cure” game, aimed at raising cancer awareness and hosted in support of specific community members who are fighting the disease.
This year’s game supported and accepted donations for Emeri Barger, 5, an Albany Elementary School student who is fighting acute leukemia. Barger’s brother, English, is a freshman on Delta’s team.
The Marauders wore the annual home purple jerseys — which happens to be Emeri’s favorite color — with the visiting Eagles wearing pink.
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Once the pregame pictures, ceremony and moment of silence for those who have lost the fight against cancer were over, Mt. Vernon jumped out to early lead and rode that momentum to a 5-1 home win.
The hosts struck fast, with a goal just three minutes in from senior Garrett Heraly, the ninth different Marauder to score so far this year.
“We’ve got a couple guys that have two or three (goals), but if you can get a couple of other guys to two or three or four goals this season, we’re going to be dangerous,” Mt. Vernon coach Matt Mayhew said. “You can’t just isolate and focus on one guy.”
A header in the 15th minute from senior Tylin Broaders, his team-leading fourth tally of the season, doubled the lead, and an own goal by Delta just a minute later gave Mt. Vernon a 3-0 lead halfway through the opening half.
The Marauders (3-0) could have added to their first-half lead, but, with the game moved to the football field due to wet conditions on the soccer field, two Mt. Vernon shots went just high and bounced off the football crossbar.
It didn’t take long for the Marauders to add to their lead once the second half began, though. A goal from Gavin Brandon less than four minutes into the half was followed by a Jacob Knepper blast from 20 yards out almost immediately after.
Zac Stanley got the Eagles on the board with 2:40 remaining to break the shutout, the first goal Mt. Vernon allowed this season.
The win was a continuation of the Marauders’ hot start to the season, with 8-0, 6-0 and 5-1 wins. Goalie Noah Whitehouse has given up just the one goal this year, and he wasn’t tested much Tuesday by the Eagles.
Mt. Vernon controlled the pace in their attacking half much of the game, and the defense stayed strong in front of their sophomore keeper.
“Noah has made some great saves throughout the first three games to keep it just to one goal in three games,” Mayhew said. “That’s a pretty good average. If you can do that, you’re going to win most games if you can keep them out of the net.”
But Tuesday was important and special for much more than just the Marauders third win of the season.
The “Kick for a Cure” game started in 2016, when several members of the Mt. Vernon community were battling cancer. The wife of Mt. Vernon assistant coach Chris Steeno, the mother of Mt. Vernon coach Matt Mayhew, the brother of Marauders player Matt Thompson and several others in the Mt. Vernon family were fighting cancer or had family members battling it.
Steeno and Mayhew coach at Sporting Indiana FC together with Delta head coach Kurt Griffis, so the idea of the two teams joining forces for a cancer-awareness game came together easily.
“It was like everybody was getting it at one time,” Mayhew said. “Kurt and I, we’ve been good friends for years. We said we should do something like this. We try to do a little bit of a fundraiser, help families out, just bring awareness to it.”
“We thought when we get together, instead of it just being a game, we’re two close soccer families coming together, let’s create it into something special,” Steeno added. “We look forward to it every year.”
This year’s recipient of the fundraising certainly seemed to enjoy herself. Emeri Barger was having fun running around the stadium and the bleachers before the game, and she certainly didn’t mind the attention of being in the spotlight.
“It’s awesome. I’m very thankful,” Sara Wilmore, Emeri’s mother, said. “She likes it. She’s like, ‘Oh, it’s for me!’”
Despite liking the spotlight, Emeri was a bit shy. But she agreed that it was neat to have so many people supporting her, and she had one simple word for the people that came out to support her in her fight against cancer.
“Thanks,” she said, before going back to running around in the pregame rain.