Sep. 16—Something positive emanated from the Madison-North girls match Sept. 16.

It wasn't just a positive result, as the sides battled to a 1-1 stalemate in their first nonconference encounter following so many years of association through the Western Reserve Conference and, prior to that, the old Premier Athletic Conference.

The fact the match was competitive period wasn't lost on Blue Streaks coach Chad Butler and Rangers counterpart Sam Richter.

Butler's sides have dominated this series for much of recent memory. Since 2012 coming into this match, Madison (5-5-1) had won the prior 13 meetings by a combined differential of 55-4.

PHOTOS: North vs. Madison girls soccer Sept. 16, 2023

Butler lauded the clear improvement from North (4-4-2) as it notched its first positive result against his side in well more than a decade.

"I take nothing away from North," Butler said. "They only have a couple subs, and they have a ton of heart.

"We knew they were going to be tight defensively. North does a great job of getting numbers back behind the ball. They haven't conceded many goals all season. And when we started to rush it and not be patient, the way that we ought to, it just played right into North's hands."

For her part, Richter was thrilled to see growth in that regard as well.

"This is huge," Richter said. "We talked about how we're a decade out from really being able to compete with these teams. This class is the cornerstone. These are our culture builders. And every game, we go out there and say, 'This is the one where we turn it around. This is the one where our program becomes what it can be and what it has been.

"It's huge. These guys are great. They're buying in, and I love it."

The 80 lacked in the natural flow of attack and shots on target in general, with a total of seven combined.

The Blue Streaks opened their account in the seventh minute. Lily VanKirk pounced on an errant defensive-third build pass and put away her finish for her sixth goal of 2023.

The Rangers grabbed their equalizer in the 19th minute. Michaela Herbert put a free kick on frame, which took a high bounce around the edge of the six and in to make it a 1-1 match.

North, led by center back Morgan Bell, did well through to stay organized and limit Madison's pacey junior striker Reese Meister.

Meister had a couple decent looks on free kicks in the 61st and 79th that went begging over the crossbar. North's Michaella Pingstock also nearly notched a match-winner in the 69th, but her right-footed strike was stymied by Blue Streaks goalkeeper Taylor MacAdam.

"We've just got to move forward," Butler said. "I've told the girls over and over, 'Success never arrives before belief.' And North believed that they were going to win this game, and we needed to believe stronger. I think in the second 40, we did. But we just couldn't turn it in our favor."

#NHsoccer My postmatch analysis from the 1-1 draw between Madison & North girls (live from Chagrin River Park between matches )

(Will post my match story shortly ... it went up hours ago, but now it'll be complete) pic.twitter.com/oyHHMhUDT9

— Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) September 17, 2023