Grafton girls’ soccer finds itself in rare air

It wasn’t even on its list of lofty goals this season, but the Grafton High School girls’ soccer team is in the race for the North Shore Conference title.

The honor has typically gone to a high-ranked team from a larger school — Grafton is the smallest in the NSC by far — but these Black Hawks are different.

Grafton on May 19 disposed of Slinger, 5-1, to move to 3-1 in the NSC, second to Cedarburg, which is 3-0-2. Grafton plays at Cedarburg on Thursday, May 28.

Grafton’s leading scorer Katelyn Valenta, who rejoined the team after playing club last year, had three goals against Slinger, and senior co-captain Brayleigh Sumner had two. Mila Dotson and Abby Widmann each had an assist.

“It’s huge to be able to be competing for winning the conference this year,” Valenta said. “It’s great to be at the top of the conference now and being the ones people want to beat instead of being the ones people know they will beat.”

Senior Ava Dotson remembers those days.

“It’s so exciting. We really want to win. We at least compete really well, just so we have good momentum going into the regionals,” she said.

Coach Jason Rogers said he’s in new territory.

“We haven’t had too many years in this type of position. It’s definitely new for me. It would be great,” he said of winning an NSC title.

“It wasn’t our goal when we set out this year. To kind of play the way we’re playing and have that as a potential outcome is pretty big for us.”

The Hawks need a win or draw at Cedarburg to stay in contention, then a win in their final league game at Hartford (1-3 NSC) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Cedarburg is ranked No. 3 in Division 2 and Grafton is No. 5 in Division 3, according to the latest Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association weekly poll.

Last Friday, the Hawks handled former powerhouse Cedar Grove-Belgium, 5-1. The Rockets’ goal came from a Hawk accidentally heading it into the net on a corner kick.

Valenta scored twice, and Ava and Mila Dotson and Kaylie Van Sluys each scored once. Valenta, Van Sluys, Widmann, Sumner and Sierra Javorski each had an assist.

Van Sluys’ shot came on a fireball after a corner kick by Sumner bounced around.

“I didn’t realize she had that in her bag,” Rogers said. “Sure enough, she pulled that out. I’m excited to watch that on film again, I can tell you that much.”

Valenta said the team’s passing set up good scoring chances.

“I think we just connected the ball really, really well. We knew when to play the through ball and when to just possess and make quick passes around the defense to get open shots,” Valenta said.

Ava Dotson scored in the first 24 seconds and Grafton led, 2-1, at halftime.

“We always talk about starting fast, especially teams traveling to us. They’re coming off of a game last night, so you just want to get after them as quickly as you can,” Rogers said.

The Hawks began to dominate more as the game wore on.

“In the first half, we were kind of playing a little soft. I think they were out-hustling us,” Dotson said. “Eventually we got it into gear and we were able to beat them along with speed and everything else.”

Her sister Mila said, “It was very intense in the second half. We were more ready.”

Keeper Paige Proefrock, a volleyball star who sometimes misses soccer due to tournaments, was up to the task when the Rockets threatened.

“Today was a little bit nerve-wracking because we needed to win this one to get a good (playoff) seed,” she said. “I trust my defense and all my players to help me out.”

The Rockets, who came in down multiple starters due to injury and with at least two more less than 100%, lost another player. Ava Peterson left during the first half with a leg injury. Her status was unknown.

Gracie Schmidt left after colliding with a Hawk in the second half, but Rockets’ coach Zac Garza said she should be OK.

Garza wants his team to get the experience in physical games, especially since the Rockets have been bumped up from Division 4 to Division 3 the past couple of seasons through the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Competitive Balance Initiative.

“That’s one thing I think these bigger schools do really well, using their bodies and having that physicality. That’s why we try to put a number of those schools on the schedule so that way we can put our girls in situations where they’re forced to learn how to use their bodies,” Garza said.

Grafton is in the Rockets’ sectional for the playoffs, and defender Mia Grisolono was glad to face the Hawks.

“This was a good game for that because it gives us something to be hungry for and get back at it,” she said. “Grafton is a good team and it was fun to play against some good strikers.”

The Hawks led, 3-1, when Schmidt put on a move inside the box and Proefrock made a nice save. The Hawks scored to go up by three shortly thereafter.

“Soccer’s a game of momentum,” Garza said.

He wants to see stronger starts from his team.

“We talked about it after the game today. That has been our biggest problem, starting halves,” Garza said. “We gave up in under a minute in the first half and under five minutes in the second half.”

He was pleased with his defense.

“I thought our back line just fought really hard today. Riley (Albinger), Mia, Carissa (Konzak) and Alivia (Szysykiewicz)  — they worked really hard. That’s a really talented front line by Grafton and on top,” Garza said.

The Rockets came in on a two-game winning streak. They beat Kohler, 7-1, on May 19. Schmidt and Arden Getschman each had three goals. Kami Horn had one and two assists. Getschman had two assists, and Schmidt, Albinger and Claire Prinsen each had one.

They won at Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, 6-0, last Thursday. Schmidt had three goals and Getschman, Horn and Prinsen each had one. Horn and Getschman each had two assists, and Schmidt and Carissa Konzak each had one.

Grafton gets top seed in playoffs

Grafton got a 1 seed in the Division 3 playoffs and on June 4 hosts the winner of the game between No. 17 Campbellsport and No. 16 Pius XI Catholic.

The Rockets, 12-5-2 overall, got a 7 seed and host No. 10 St. Thomas More on June 4.

Port will Kewaskum again

Port tied Kewaskum in a scoreless road game last Thursday.

“Definitely not the results we wanted, however, we had a number of players leave at halftime for the high school choir concert,” coach Sandy Bennett said.

“Jilli (Pontek) played well, but hit the crossbar twice in the first half, and she was one of the players that left at halftime. Libby (Holmes) and Charlotte (O’Brien) had a number of shots, but nothing fell in the back of the net for us,” Bennett said.

Port, 7-3-3, was to host Sheboygan South on Tuesday, May 26. Port plays at Random Lake/Ozaukee on Thursday, May 28.

Port got a 6 seed in the Division 3 playoffs and hosts No. 11 Kewaskum on June 4.