Lions are finally able to complete mission
If you attended a New Berlin Eisenhower girls soccer match this season, you likely noticed a banner hanging in the cheering section with three simple words: “FINISH THE MISSION.”
On Saturday night in the Division 3 state title match at Uihlein Soccer Park against last year’s Division 2 runner-up Notre Dame, the mission was accomplished in remarkable fashion.
Iowa State recruit Lauren Hernandez scored three goals, Kentucky recruit Taylor Rinzel, Alex Nunag and Mary Kowitz all found the back of the net, and Sarah Stadler dished out two assists in Eisenhower’s 6-1 romp over the Tritons to bring home the school’s first title for soccer. The six goals set a Division 3 record for a state title match.
“It was kind of our mantra last year as well. We didn’t finish,” Eisenhower head coach Nick Datka said. “We lost in the state semifinal. We didn’t feel like we played very well in that game last year, but this year, we came out with it and we were ready. We hung that banner up every game to remind ourselves.
“Mission No. 1 is, it’s not easy to make it to state. It’s not easy to get here. Everybody thinks it’s easy to get to state. It’s not easy to get here, and it’s not easy to win two games when you’re here. We put it together for two straight days. The way we played in the first 20 minutes of this one, it set the tone in a hurry. Our girls came out on fire and there’s just no denying them.”
The top-seeded Lions came out with relentless pressure. Kowitz opened the scoring inside of the match’s first eight minutes off a cross from Stadler, while Hernandez netted two goals over the next 20 minutes, including one off a beautiful set piece from a corner to make it 3-0.
Fifty-four seconds into the second half, the Lions tacked on another thanks to Rinzel’s awareness off a loose ball. Notre Dame got one back on the efforts of Stella Cuene, but Hernandez capped her hat trick 48 seconds later. Nunag put the finishing touches on the performance by knocking home the rebound of a Rinzel shot.
“We just really wanted to move the ball side to side and find gaps in their defense and wait for them to get out of position so we could attack them,” Hernandez said.
It was Eisenhower’s 17th straight victory dating to May 4 and the 10th time in that stretch it scored five-plus goals. The Lions outshot the Tritons 21-4.
The demons of state tournaments past for the program were vanquished, according to Datka.
“I feel like some of our failures in the past, whether it be 2018 or last year, I think it’s because this was the team meant for this destiny,” he said. “I couldn’t be more happy.”