Posted: Oct. 16, 2009 |(0) Comments

Bad memories of a discouraging 2008 tournament loss were fresh on the mind of high-scoring Whitefish Bay soccer forward Robert Courtney when an ill-timed ricochet resulted in an own goal and a tie game in the first half with rival Nicolet in a WIAA regional final Thursday night.

Fortunately, Courtney, who had earlier given the North Shore champion Blue Dukes the lead, had an answer 17 minutes into the second half, as he split two defenders from about 15 yards out and rammed a shot to the far left post to give the Blue Dukes a 2-1 win over the Knights.

"I wanted to put pressure on them so I took a touch," Courtney said. "I was able to get between the two (defenders), and I knew if I put the ball on the ground, the keeper would have a hard time defending it."

Déjà vu denied

"But I tell you, it was a bad feeling when that rebound went it," he said, referring to the 2008 WIAA loss the Blue Dukes suffered at the hand of the Knights due largely in part to two own goals by Bay. "I just went 'Oh no!' "

However, it is the second-seeded Blue Dukes (10-7) who are going "Oh yes" as they advanced to sectional play back on their home field this week. They'll have to get by Woodland Conference champion South Milwaukee (21-4 overall) first Thursday but are looking forward to a sectional final on Oct. 24 against top seed and defending WIAA state champion Marquette.

"We sort of wanted that last year," Courtney said, "but we got a little ahead of ourselves (losing to Nicolet). Fortunately, we were able to take care of business today."

Bay coach Mike Kops was grateful that Courtney, who pounded in a point blank rebound of a Brady King shot at the 17-minute mark of the first half, was on his side this night.

"He's a tough little player," Kops said. "He just has a knack."

The loss finished the Knights season at 5-14-2. Coach Brian Weisse, whose team was crunched by Bay 3-0 in the regular season, was pleased with the effort.

Missed opportunities sink Knights

Nicolet had a point blank chance to tie the score (at the 68-minute mark) fly over the net after the Bay goalie couldn't control the rebound and had a free kick chance with less than five minutes remaining only to be deflected out by the Blue Dukes.

"We had opportunities but that's been our story all year long," Weisse said, "but it was a much different game than the first time around. Playoffs usually are. I was happy how we pushed them to the limit. I was proud of the guys."

So was Kops of his players.

"It was more interesting than it probably should have been," he said, "but this was a conference team and no matter what the records were, they came in here thinking that they could win the game. We had to be ready to finish this."

Weisse was impressed by the Blue Dukes.

"That's a good team we lost to. I think they can push Marquette to the limit," he said.

UP NEXT

WHAT: WIAA sectional semifinals, Thursday - fourth seed Oak Creek at first seed Marquette (Quad Park) at 7 p.m.; three seed South Milwaukee at two seed Whitefish Bay, 7 p.m. WIAA sectional final, Oct. 24 at Whitefish Bay, 7 p.m. WIAA State Tournament at Uihlein Soccer Park, Milwaukee, Oct. 29-31.

NICOLET NOTES: Seniors on the team included Aidan Hamaker, Dylan Johnson, Jacob Levey, Keith Lewis, Brandon Lieberthal, Ronen Monosov, Steven Nicolet, Gard Pecor, Isak Peterson, Jared Schnoll and David Yarmulnik.