One win down, tough season to go

New Ozaukee High School boys’ soccer coach Josh Wood knows there has to be more to the season than what happened on Sept. 22, but oh, how sweet it was.

The Warriors topped rival Cedar Grove-Belgium, 7-2, at home behind hat tricks from junior Efrain Altamirano and sophomore Chase Miller.

It was the Warriors’ first Big East Conference victory in two years.

“The way those boys played, they came together and worked really hard,” Wood said.

Gavin Schmidt put the Rockets up early on an assist from Will Lautenschlaeger and Lautenschlaeger later scored on an assist from Parker Knight.

But the Warriors scored three first-half goals to take the lead. Altamirano netted his first on an assist from Miller. Nick Szczerbinski scored on an assist from Simon Bare and Miller scored from Altamirano.

In the second half, Altamirano scored, followed by two goals by Miller, and finally another by Altamirano. Bares, Szczerbinski, Owen Klaus and Mason Norwood each had an assist.

“We had some collective defensive miscues, which the Warriors would capitalize on,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Elias Garcia said.

“I’m proud of the guys for their positivity and playing hard for the full 90 (minutes).”

Wood credited the defensive line of Norwood and Jason Anderson, and said Klaus  “did a phenomenal job on transitions and shut down the left side.”

“Really, it’s the whole team. There’s not just one piece that really holds it all together,” he said.

“We’ve got a tough season ahead of us. We can’t look to just one win.”

The Warriors, 1-2, were to play at rival Random Lake on Tuesday and host Oostburg on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The Rockets last Thursday lost to St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy, 7-2.

“I tinkered with our personnel in this non-conference clash, which resulted in Dylan Teunissen, normally one of our backs, scoring twice playing in an advanced role,” Garcia said.

“We generated some sporadic offensive opportunities but could not finish. We were caught once again in some difficult defensive moments.”

Aiden Filtz, Garcia said, made some nice saves, and the group effort wasn’t lacking despite playing three games in four days.

The Rockets (0-4) were to host Kohler on Tuesday, play at Random Lake on Thursday, Oct. 1, and at St. Mary Catholic on Tuesday, Oct. 6.