Shorewood, Racine Horlick fall in semifinals
FOND DU LAC – Unless you’re bringing home the championship, there is no easy way to end a season.
Shorewood’s boys soccer team is in the midst of one its best runs: 31 wins in two seasons with an .816 winning percentage, a Woodland Conference championship this year and state tournament appearances this season and last.
However, after the Division 2 semifinals of the WIAA state tournament for the alternate season, finishing without even a spot in the final stung.
“It’s really sad,” said Liam Martin, a senior midfielder and captain. “I love my boys and I love Shorewood soccer. It’s just a tough one to swallow.”
The second-seeded Greyhounds lost, 1-0, in overtime to No. 3 Green Bay Notre Dame at Smith Field on the campus of Marian University. The loss was not only Shorewood’s first of the season, but it also marked the first time it was held scoreless.
Notre Dame sophomore Emmett Lawton scored the game’s lone goal at 96 minutes 34 seconds off a pass from junior Adam Brada.
The victory sent the Tritons (14-3-2) in the final against McFarland in a game played Saturday night.
Shorewood finished 11-1. The story of the match was the countless shots the Greyhounds turned around before Lawton took Brada’s pass from the left post and scored a one-touch goal.
While the Greyhounds lacked their usual continuity offensively, the team’s back line met almost every challenge, be it senior Antonio Rodriguez or juniors Will O’Connor, Sajen Hardrath and Alex Fitch clearing balls out of the box or junior goalkeeper George Pritchard making seven saves.
Notre Dame held a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal and 13-2 edge in corner kicks.
“The stats I don’t think always tell the whole story,” Shorewood coach Kyle Konkol said. “I think there is whole lot more to it than corner kicks and shots on goal. … With that said, we didn’t threaten enough like we normally do.”
Despite not creating its usual amount of chances, Shorewood’s attack did get stronger as the game went along and had a handful of strong chances to score late in regulation. One of the last came in the 85th minute when junior Denis Krioutchenkov, the Greyhounds’ leading scorer with 34 goals, was just wide on a header off a free kick from Martin.
“We started growing with the game up front with our boys Denis and Kam (James). I was able to get on the ball a little bit,” Martin said in explaining how the team increased its scoring chances. “We just went swing for swing with them and they came out on top.”
While the loss meant an end to the season early than Shorewood hoped, the season could lead to another strong campaign when the program returns to the tradition season, which starts in August.
Just four players in the starting lineup were seniors and seven of the 16 who saw action.
“Not so long ago we were a .500 program trying to get out of the first round of the playoffs and then I’m looking at a guy like Liam Martin, Kam James,” Konkol said. “They were the start of something special and they brought a (higher) level of competitiveness."
Appleton North moves on
There would be no comeback for Racine Horlick this time.
The Rebels boys soccer team earned a spot in the WIAA state tournament by rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat Beloit Memorial in the sectional final last week. In the Division 1 semifinals they fell behind by two goals during the first 21 minutes, the start of a 7-0 loss to No. 1 seed Appleton North at Kewaskum High School.
North (13-0-1) advanced to the championship for the second time; it was the 2010 runner-up. The Lightning were to face the winner of the second semifinal, between No. 2 Waunakee and. No. 3 De Pere, at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Horlick, which made its first state appearance since 2005, finished 10-2-2.