{"id":2425544,"date":"2026-05-20T22:34:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2425544"},"modified":"2026-05-20T22:34:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:34:43","slug":"its-royals-against-panthers-again-for-all-the-marbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/its-royals-against-panthers-again-for-all-the-marbles\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Royals against Panthers again for all the marbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\tStuttgart freshman Alexandria Lyles and SHAPE freshman Wren Stewart fight for possession of the ball during a Division I semifinal game at the European Championships on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n \n \n \n \n <\/symbol>\n \n \n \n <\/path><\/symbol>\n \n \n \n <\/symbol>\n \n \n \n \n <\/symbol>\n \n \n \n <\/symbol>\n \n \n \n <\/symbol>\n<\/svg> <\/p>\n

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany \u2013 The Ramstein Royals will once again defend their crown against the Stuttgart Panthers in the girls Division I European soccer championship match. <\/p>\n

The two teams advanced through Wednesday\u2019s semifinals by very different routes. <\/p>\n

The Panthers punched their ticket behind an explosive first-half performance in a 3-0 victory over the SHAPE Spartans, while the Royals had to battle through overtime against the Vilseck Falcons before escaping with a 1-0 win. <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Alex<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tRamstein senior Isabelle Donkin is contested by Vilseck sophomore Alex Cornell during a Division I semifinal game for the DODEA European championships on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n\t\t\"Ana<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tVilseck senior Ana Switala takes a goal kick during a game against the Ramstein Royals on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n\t\t\"Jada<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tRamstein sophomore Jada Smith fends off Vilseck sophomore Teagan Mulholland during a Division I semifinal game for the DODEA European championships on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n\t\t\"Rachel<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tVilseck senior Rachel Sanchez fends off Ramstein defensive players during a Division I semifinal game in Kaiserslautern, Germany on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n\t\t\"Ramstein<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tThe Ramstein Royals celebrate a win against the Vilseck Falcons on May 20, 2026, which secured their spot in the DODEA European championship match for Division I. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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Royals defeat Falcons <\/p>\n

For a team accustomed to championship appearances, Wednesday\u2019s matchup against Vilseck was anything but routine for the Royals. <\/p>\n

For 60 minutes, neither the Royals nor the Falcons could find a breakthrough. <\/p>\n

Ramstein appeared tentative early as both teams searched for their footing, but once the pace picked up, the intensity never let up. <\/p>\n

The up-and-coming Falcons squad proved they belonged on the semifinal stage, putting together a defensive performance that kept the Royals at a stalemate. <\/p>\n

Freshman goalkeeper Reilly Switala was a brick wall in net, while the Falcons\u2019 defensive line consistently disrupted the Royals\u2019 attack and turned away scoring chances. <\/p>\n

Despite relentless pressure, speed and repeated shot attempts from the Royals\u2019 offense, the Falcons refused to bend. <\/p>\n

When regulation ended scoreless, Vilseck had already accomplished something few teams manage \u2014 pushing the perennial finalists beyond regulation. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a defensive team, so when our defenders are given a goal, they can usually accomplish it,\u201d Falcons senior defender Ana Switala said of the team\u2019s game plan against the Royals\u2019 offense. \u201cSo that was our main thing, just making sure our defense was impeccable.\u201d <\/p>\n

Royals junior Kayla Groat had threatened throughout regulation but could not find the back of the net. Once overtime began, however, she found her moment. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were definitely struggling in the first half and we weren\u2019t getting as many chances as we wanted,\u201d Groat said. \u201cOnce we started playing more as a team and finding those simple passes, we were able to break through and get a lot more chances.\u201d <\/p>\n

Amid a breakdown in the Falcons\u2019 defense and a scramble in front of the net, Groat connected with the ball inside the goalie box and tapped in the first and only goal of the match. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that losing this game gave us a lot of fire,\u201d the older Switala sister said. \u201cI think we had a lot of fire going into this game too, but I think that with losing that game, there\u2019s no way that we\u2019re going to give up and we\u2019re going to do our best to win tomorrow.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Maria<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tSHAPE senior Maria Doriza, right, is contested by Stuttgart sophomore Anna Allen in a Division I semifinal matchup at the DODEA European championships on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n\t\t\"Iveta<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tSHAPE senior Iveta Stefancinova fights for possession of the ball against Stuttgart senior Brielle Aplanalp during a Division I European championships semifinal game on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n\t\t\"Aubrie<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tStuttgart sophomore Aubrie Hightower pressures SHAPE\u2019s defense during a Division I semifinal game of the European championships on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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\n\t\t\"Alexandria<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tStuttgart freshman Alexandria Lyles sends in a kick during a match against the SHAPE Spartans on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes)
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Stuttgart tops SHAPE <\/p>\n

While Ramstein had to grind for its place in the final, Stuttgart left little doubt. <\/p>\n

The Panthers wasted little time asserting themselves, thanks to a first-half hat trick from junior Sienna Ingle \u2013 who matched an effort earlier in the tourney by her assist partner, freshman Alexandria Lyles. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlex is my right foot to my left foot. We\u2019re just like a little duo,\u201d Ingle said. <\/p>\n

The pair proved difficult for SHAPE to contain early as Lyles repeatedly broke down the right wing and created scoring opportunities for Ingle and other Panthers attackers with nice crossing passes. <\/p>\n

Three proved to be the magic number as the Spartans settled in defensively and held the Panthers scoreless through the remainder of the match after halftime. <\/p>\n

Under constant pressure and facing numerous shots on goal, Spartans goalkeeper Aimee Fitzgerald, along with an invigorated defensive squad, turned away multiple close chances from the Panthers\u2019 offense. <\/p>\n

However, the first-half outburst had already done the damage. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked our butts off every day at practice,\u201d Lyles said. \u201cI think going into the final, really everyone this entire season has been so hungry for the championship \u2013 we all want it so bad.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Spartans, working with a makeshift back line according to the coaches, still turned in a strong performance, with coaches praising the efforts of the last-minute defensive unit and their team as a whole. <\/p>\n

The fight for the Spartans and Falcons is not over as the teams will face each other in Thursday\u2019s third-place match. <\/p>\n

\n <\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.stripes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stuttgart freshman Alexandria Lyles and SHAPE freshman Wren Stewart fight for possession of the ball during a Division I semifinal game at the European Championships on May 20, 2026. (Lydia Gordon\/Stars and Stripes) KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany \u2013 The Ramstein Royals will once again defend their crown against the Stuttgart Panthers in the girls Division I European […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2425545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[453548,475495,363597,409433],"class_list":["post-2425544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-dodea-europe-soccer","tag-high-school-soccer-in-europe","tag-ramstein-royals","tag-stuttgart-panthers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Its-Royals-against-Panthers-again-for-all-the-marbles.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2425544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2425546,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425544\/revisions\/2425546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2425545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2425544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2425544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2425544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}