Posted: April 6, 2010 |(0) Comments

Homestead girls soccer

The defending North Shore Conference champion Highlanders may have graduated eight starters from 2009, but that doesn't mean expectations aren't high again for the WIAA sectional runners-up.

"I like this team," said veteran Highlanders coach Rich Dorn, whose team opened its campaign with a 1-0 win over Kenosha Tremper on March 31. "Yes, we lost a great deal, but we just see it as another opportunity, a chance to take the handoff of the baton and run with it."

Homestead, which is off until its North Shore Conference opener at Grafton on April 13, will look to senior co-captains Megan Eisenbrown (defender) and Mara Hale (midfielder) for its leadership and to underclassmen for its talent.

Among the juniors expected to pace the high-powered Highlanders are midfielder Aubrey Quick, forward Olivia Tehan and defender Lindsay Jagla. Sophomores expected to contribute greatly include midfielder Molly Hobbs, defender Madeline Bireley and forwards Zoe Ziegler and Kate Wirthlin.

Senior forward Krystyna Kudlata will also be expected to take a big role in the fast-paced attack.

Junior Emily Jakubiak and sophomore Annelise Smith are still battling it out for the goalie's position.

"We have a history of high-level people here and we've been able to roll that over quite well," Dorn said. "This spring, we have multiple people playing at a high level. … There's also an aspect of maturity in the senior class, and they want to maintain our culture of success. It took us a while to get back to this level, and they don't want to go back."

In the win over Tremper, Ziegler got the only goal in the 60th minute with help from Tehan.

Whitefish Bay girls soccer

A veteran Blue Dukes squad opened what they hope to be a successful season on a positive note when they took advantage of unseasonably fine conditions to win two games in their own quadrangular March 30 and 31.

Bay downed Wauwatosa West, 4-0, and Menomonee Falls, 3-1.

"We have 13 returnees this spring, plus some good newcomers, so we have a little bit of everything," Blue Dukes coach Robert Williams said. "We're playing at a good level now, but we need to become a little more physical. … I've been very impressed with our defense so far. We didn't give up too many shots in either of those games.

"I also really liked our work rate, our effort."

Returnees for the Blue Dukes include seniors Kylie Davidson (midfielder), Alexa Moulopoulos (forward) and defenders Therese O'Brien, Kaitlin Theder and Carly Maxwell.

Junior letter winners include forward Michaela Cohen, midfielder Lydia Kaminsky and midfielders Kelsey Corrigan and Katie Sullivan.

Sophomores with experience are defenders Kristin Edwards, Mariah Vichich and Lindsey Agnew and forward Abby Starker.

The new goalie is junior Sarah Platzer.

Bay, which lost in the WIAA sectional finals to eventual state champion Divine Savior Holy Angels, finished second to Homestead in the North Shore Conference last season, and Williams said that the league will be balanced this spring.

"I think it'll be hard for any team to go unbeaten (in league) this season," he said.

Williams liked the way the team handled the back-to-back nature of the opening games last week.

"We'll be doing a lot of that this season, so this was a good opportunity to gain experience," he said.

The Blue Dukes will open their North Shore season April 13 at home against Nicolet.

Nicolet girls soccer

The Knights split their opening nonconference schedule last week, beating Franklin, 3-1, and then falling to New Berlin Eisenhower, 2-0.

In the win over Franklin, the Knights fell behind 1-0 at the half, but then got three second-half goals from Jennifer Winston, Laila Eslami and Nicole Dunn to pull away for the win.

Against Eisenhower, Nicolet fell despite putting 14 shots on goal. In split duty, Kristy Leopold made seven saves and Sarah Barth eight for the Knights.

Shorewood boys track

The Greyhounds got firsts from Peter Drews in the 800 and the 3,200 relay team of Drews, Ben Tyler, Aidan Mazur and John Taylor in taking sixth in the Class B competition of the Madison West Relays on Saturday.

Shorewood scored 35 points in the 19-team field, as La Crosse Logan won with 88 1/4 .

Drews won the 800 by more than three seconds with a time of 2:01.46, while the relay cruised to the state's third-best time with a nine-second win in 8:25.34.

Other places for the Greyhounds included a third from Tyler in the 1,600 (4:36.14), a fourth from the 1,600 relay team (3:44.39) and a fifth from Joey Knutson in the 400 (54.69).

The Greyhounds will open their outdoor season with their own home quad at 4 p.m. Friday. They will then have their own field event festival at noon Saturday.