Kewaskum Girls Soccer has Positive End to Regular Season

The Kewaskum Indians girls’ varsity soccer team wrapped up regular season play with a busy week of three games. On Tuesday, May 27, the Indians hosted Winneconne. Kewaskum came out hard right away, and the Indians' defense did a nice job preventing shots to start the game. Unfortunately, Winneconne’s offense kept up the attack and eventually found an opening in the Indians’ defense to get on the board before halftime. Winneconne continued the offensive pressure throughout the second half, and despite an impressive game by senior goalkeeper Victoria Kenworthy, the Indians found themselves down three goals to none at the final whistle. Despite the loss, Coach Piwani was proud of his defense and commented, “We did a nice job in the first half and kept them from getting good looks at the goal for most of the first half. They are a really solid team and really stress the defense. I was proud of the girls for how they limited the scoring opportunities for them.”
The Indians traveled to Berlin on Wednesday, May 28, for their second game of the week to make up for the game that was previously rained out. The Indians didn’t waste any time finding the back of the net. Senior Emily Melzer scored less than seven minutes into the game off an assist from sophomore Cami Boelte. This quick start set the tone for the game, and senior forward Caitlin Finger scored four goals in a row to put the Indians up 5-0. The Indians still weren’t done, however, and in the 63rd minute and 75th minute, defenders Jadelyn Stoltzmann and Marissa Strankowski scored, making the final score 7-0 Indians. With this win, the Indians secured fourth place in the East Central Conference. After the game, Coach Piwani stated, “We were very offensive in this game. Kudos to the girls for taking advantage of their opportunities. Alayna Lambrecht made a great save to preserve the shutout. It was also nice to see Jadelyn get a goal. Whenever a defender gets a chance to score, it is great to see as they do so much for the team that usually does not show up on the stat sheet.”
The final game of regular season play for the Indians was against West Bend on Thursday, May 29. Both teams came out hard right away, but the Indians were able to get on the board first when Caitlin Finger put one in the net in the 13th minute off an assist from Emily Melzer. Just two minutes later, Annika Kreuser scored for the Indians, making it 2-0. The Indians continued to push offensively, and freshman Dana Jacobson scored in the 25th minute to give her team a three-goal lead going into halftime. Having three games in three days started to catch up with the Indians a bit in the second half as their legs began to get tired, but they dug deep and fought hard to prevent West Bend from getting any solid opportunities. In the 70th minute, senior Emily Melzer took a beautiful corner kick that connected with Annika Kreuser’s head before going in the goal. This was the final goal of the game, and the Indians ended their regular season with a 4-0 victory. Coach Piwani commented, “We were able to get a quick lead and then add on twice in the first half for a 3-0 lead at halftime. You could see the tired legs catching up with us a bit in the second half, but I was proud of the girls for holding it together and being able to keep the clean sheet intact. This was a great way to end the regular season and gives us good momentum going into Regionals. Hopefully, we can keep up the energy and the offensive aggressiveness as we move forward. Annika Kreuser had a nice game. She was very aggressive and on the attack. The header goal she had off the corner kick from Emily was awesome.”
The Indians traveled to North Fond du Lac on Thursday, June 5, for regional play and won 4-0. In the Regional Final on Saturday, June 7, Kewaskum lost to Cedar Grove-Belgium, 7-1.