Port kickers seek first win of season; Grafton is 3-0

It has been a slow start to the season for the Port Washington High School boys’ soccer team, but not for forward Evan Huber.

The Pirates last week lost two games to slip to 0-4, but Huber tallied two more goals and now has four on the season.

On Aug. 31, Port lost at Kettle Moraine Lutheran, 6-2. Huber scored twice, once on an assist by Turner Styles.

It was 1-1 at halftime, and Port took a 2-1 lead in the 42nd minute, when “We just fell apart,” coach Tyler Schultz said.

KML (3-1-1) rattled off five unanswered scores to win convincingly.

“We weren’t playing as a team like we did in the past two games,” Schultz said.

He praised the play of Huber, Logan Bares and Sean Bongiorno and keeper Spencer Struckman, who kept the game from getting out of hand.

“It could have been (worse),” Schultz said.

Against top-notch Whitefish Bay on Thursday in Port’s home opener, the Pirates lost, 9-0. The Blue Dukes are 7-0 this season.

It was 6-0 at halftime.

The game went the full 90 minutes instead of being stopped via the 10-goal mercy rule in the second half thanks to Struckman.

“He pretty much saved us from that,” Schultz said.

The games provided an education for the Pirates, Schultz said.

“Obviously, I wasn’t happy about the Kettle Moraine game, but everyone has those type of games,” he said. “We’ve just got to learn from them and put them behind us and focus on the next ones.”

Port was to play at Oostburg (4-0) on Tuesday, at West Bend East (0-3) on Thursday and will host Nicolet (4-0) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14.

Grafton wins with 10 players

Grafton kept its goal-free streak going last Thursday at West Bend West.

The Black Hawks escaped with a 1-0 win on a second-half score by Cayden Sumner for their third straight shutout to start the season.

On the only score of the night, the Hawks won the ball near the midfield area and freshman Luke Jackson made a run down the right side and took a shot.

The ball, coach Greg Springman said, hit the crossbar. The Spartans’ keeper dove to stop it and when the ball bounced right to Sumner, all he had to do was tap it in to break the scoreless tie.

The goal came around the 70th minute, after which Grafton tweaked its strategy.

“We made sure we got a little more defensive, kept that clean sheet and got the victory,” Springman said.

It didn’t come easy. A Hawk got a red card in the first half, and the team had to play a man down — 10 players instead of 11 — the rest of the game.

“Our team showed great heart and determination,” Springman said.

He praised Sumner and Kolton Micoliczyk for their work in the midfield, and said Cayden Pegelow dropped back to fill in as a defender “and maintain what we had back there.”

Neither team had many scoring chances. Hawk keeper Charlie Rose made two saves.

The Hawks are 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the North Shore Conference. West went to 1-2. Grafton was to play at Cedarburg on Wednesday, in a tournament at New Berlin on Friday and Saturday and host Whitefish Bay at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14.