If the 2018 boys lacrosse season has showed us anything, it’s that Middleton knows how to close out a campaign. On Tuesday night, the Cardinals also showed they could close out a game, as well.

Middleton used a four-goal fourth quarter to defeat Sauk Prairie, 9-7. The Cardinals now take a five-game winning streak into the Badgerland Conference tournament.

“Momentum is a huge thing, especially in the game of lacrosse,” said Reed Kochan, Middleton’s junior goalie who had a number of impressive saves behind a staunch Cardinals’ defense. “We have this momentum going into the playoffs, which really helps our chase for a state title. We’re pushing a lot harder now.”

Middleton and Sauk Prairie were tied at four heading into halftime, and both defenses settled in during a mostly scoreless third quarter. The Cardinals finally broke through with the first goal of the second half when senior middie Jake Hoskins scored with 2 minutes, 19 seconds left in the third to give Middleton (6-5, 3-4 Badgerland Conference) a 5-4 lead.

“They like to backdoor cut a lot, so as soon as a defender’s head moves, they’ll make that back cut,” Middleton coach Sandford Erdahl said. “We did a really good job defending it.”

Sauk Prairie (11-4, 3-2) tied the game again at five when junior middie Ben Rashid scored with 10:36 left to play. Middleton responded with four unanswered goals to take the lead. Three of those goals came in a span of 39 seconds, with junior attack Ayden Henderson depositing two of his game-high three goals during that stretch.

“I think the offense started out slow, but once we started getting better looks and taking better shots, we really picked it up,” Henderson said.

The Eagles kept the game close in the fourth quarter after the Cardinals made their run. Rashid scored again with 5:13 left to play, and sophomore middie Riley Jelinek brought Sauk Prairie within two goals with 3:16 to go. But that would be all the scoring for the Eagles, who were stopped short of their season average of 10 goals by the Middleton defense.

“I thought we played really competitively throughout the first half and third quarter,” Sauk Prairie coach Dylan Baier said. “But we’re a really young team, and these guys haven’t faced a lot of adversity yet.”

Middleton and Sauk Prairie will start the Badgerland Conference tournament Thursday evening.

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With four ties and two lead changes over the course of 48 minutes, it would be hard to blame anyone following the Classic 8 Conference – Red battle between Catholic Memorial and Franklin to lose track of who was leading when.

Once Catholic Memorial senior middie Colin Stein got going, however, the winner wasn’t up for debate much longer. On a frigid May night on Franklin’s Sullivan Field, Stein got hot just in time to score the Crusaders’ 10th, tying and winning goals to lead Catholic Memorial to a 12-11 victory in double overtime.

“We finally got patient on offense, and everybody was scoring,” Catholic Memorial coach Mike Hoffmann said. “Then Colin got real hot at the end, scoring a couple goals that put us right back in it.”

Stein brought the victory home for Catholic Memorial (6-4, 1-3 Classic 8 Red) as Franklin was running out the clock in the fourth quarter. He scored his first goal with 1 minute, 19 seconds left in regulation to bring the Crusaders within one. About a minute later, he scored again to tie Franklin (5-6, 2-5) at 11.

The Sabers and Crusaders went scoreless in the first overtime period, but Stein finally scored the game winner with 1:23 left in the second OT.

“We knew from the beginning they were going to cover some of our best players like Derek Gostomski and Logan Akre, and they had them locked in all game” Stein said. “So we just started moving the ball more as a team, and we were getting shots and just making more dodges as a team.”

Catholic Memorial jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead by the 6:43 mark in the first quarter. Franklin scored four unanswered goals to close out the first, led by junior middie Mitchell Kaye, who scored two of his three goals in the run.

The Sabers took their first lead of the game with 31.9 seconds left to play in the first half on sophomore middie Teddy Marion’s first of three goals for the game. They would extend their lead to 11-9 with 5:24 left in regulation when Marion scored off a pass from Kaye.

“We’ve got a young team, so we’re learning how to win some of these close games,” Franklin coach David Diehl said. “The talent is there — it’s just about learning how to put it together for 48 minutes.”

Junior attack Matt Moen also scored three goals for Franklin. Catholic Memorial junior goalie Dominic Hoffmann saved 13 shots, as well.

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Kettle Moraine may have looked outside the borders of Wisconsin to boost its nonconference schedule this season, but there is no doubt the Lasers’ games against rival Arrowhead is the main barometer for where they stand in any given season.

On Tuesday night, Kettle Moraine showed it is at the top of Wisconsin’s class once again, holding off a late surge to defeat the Warhawks 16-9 at Arrowhead’s Pfeiffer Field at Taraska Stadium.

“I thought we were a great team for about 40 minutes today,” Lasers coach Michael Stefan said. “I don’t think the scores are indicative of where both teams are at. We were just successful early on, and we were able to capitalize and move the ball well today.”

It was all Kettle Moraine (6-5, 3-0 Classic 8 Conference) from the opening face off onward on a cold, rainy and windy night in Hartland. The Lasers scored three unanswered goals and had a 5-1 lead with a 1 minute, 49 seconds left to play in the first quarter. By the end of the first half, the Lasers extended that lead to 10-1 with the help of junior middie Caleb Hotchkiss, who scored three of his five goals before halftime.

“It’s awesome because we’ve had a rivalry with Arrowhead forever,” Hotchkiss said. “It’s a statement to show we’re one of the best teams in the state because we can beat the best teams in the state.”

Arrowhead (5-1, 2-1) scored its second goal of the game early in the second half, but Kettle Moraine responded with four unanswered goals. Officials instated the running clock rule when Hotchkiss’s fifth and final goal of the game gave the Lasers a 12-goal lead with 6:53 left in the quarter.

Arrowhead had a run of its own in the fourth quarter that brought the Lasers’ lead down to seven. Senior Cole Siepmann led the late charge for the Warhawks, adding a goal and an assist during the seven-goal run.

After taking on competitors from throughout the United States — and suffering through a 2-5 record against out-of-state foes — the Lasers are now 4-0 against their Wisconsin counterparts. The seven-goal difference against Arrowhead is the closest final tally in those four in-state games thus far.

“We look at each game as a 48-minute opportunity to get better,” Stefan says. “We learn from all our games. Motivation isn’t hard when you’re looking at what you could have done better rather than the final result.

Each week WisconsinLacrosse.com will highlight a select game from around the State of Wisconsin. Made possible by a donation from Amplify Lacrosse.

 

Whenever the Homestead and Arrowhead boys lacrosse teams square off, it’s bound to be a battle to the end. For three and a half quarters, that’s exactly what was brewing between two of the elite squads from the Classic 8 Conference’s Red Division.

However, the Warhawks pulled away toward en route to a 15-8 victory that saw five ties by the 3 minute, 25 second mark of the third quarter.

“Homestead’s a good team and they were ready for us,” Arrowhead coach Jake Sweitzer said. “They definitely brought it. I thought it was a great, competitive game all the way down to the end.”

Both teams struggled to get into a rhythm in a first half that saw the officials throw a combined 13 penalty flags. Amidst the hankies, the Highlanders (5-1, 1-1 Classic 8 Red) managed to jump out to a 2-0 lead by the 10:17 mark of the first quarter. Arrowhead (4-0, 2-0) responded with four unanswered goals, a run that saw sophomore Will Lauterbach score two of his game-high five goals. The Warhawks took a 5-3 lead into halftime.

“In the first quarter, it was a little hard to get into our rhythm,” Lauterbach said. “But our guys overcame adversity, and it was a team effort. I couldn’t do it without my teammates.”

The teams were neck and neck throughout the third quarter after Homestead tied the game at five with a pair of man-up goals to open the half. The Highlanders and Warhawks traded goals to keep the game tied 8-8 until the 2:51 mark.

But when Arrowhead senior Cole Siepmann put away two of his three goals within about 90 seconds of each other in the final minutes of the quarter, he started a 7-0 run for the Warhawks that put the game out of reach.

“We made some adjustments personnelwise with our matchups, but it was nothing crazy,” Sweitzer said. “We just made sure we were sliding appropriately.”

Considering Arrowhead and Homestead were two of five undefeated teams in the Red Division, Homestead coach Mike LaValle was proud of the effort his Highlanders produced on a cold, damp evening.

“This was a great game between two well-coached, good teams that battled hand in hand,” LaValle said. “The score is not indicative of how the game was played. There are no reasons for anyone to hang their heads.”

For Arrowhead, senior Jack Cieslak added three goals — all in the fourth quarter — and three assists. Homestead was led by seniors Brady Bartz and Julius Kellner, who scored three goals apiece.

Arrowhead hosts Verona in a nonconference game Friday night before hosting Marquette and Kettle Moraine in Classic 8 play next week. Homestead travels to Hudson Saturday before Catholic Memorial comes to visit next Tuesday for a conference match.

Each week WisconsinLacrosse.com will highlight a select game from around the State of Wisconsin. Made possible by a donation from Amplify Lacrosse.

Anyone still doubting the rapid growth the sport of lacrosse is experiencing throughout Wisconsin need look no further for evidence than Thursday night’s Bay Valley Conference matchup between Appleton United and Neenah.

Spectrum Sports was on hand to broadcast its first live lacrosse game in a handful of years at the Banta Bowl on Lawrence University’s campus — all for a regular-season opening game. Fans who braved the cold as well as those who kept cozy at home were treated to a bruising 6-5 Appleton United victory.

“It never seems to matter what our records are or what time of the season it is – it’s always a close game with these guys,” Appleton coach Eric Marsh said. “Whenever you can come out on top in this one, it is a good thing.”

Both teams showed signs of rust due to the difficult weather forcing the cancellations of outdoor practices and and games, turning the 2017 Bay Valley Conference championship rematch into a physical, defensive struggle for most of the game. Appleton (2-0, 2-0 Bay Valley) jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter with help from two unassisted goals from senior middie Erik Horman.

Appleton extended its lead to 4-1 early in the second quarter when freshman middie Nate Htwe found sophomore attack Andrew Schermerhorn for a goal with 8 minutes, 57 seconds left in the half. But Neenah (0-2, 0-1) responded with three unanswered goals to tie the game, with junior attack Nathan Bezier scoring unassisted at 5:54 at 5:54 in the second quarter and putting away a pass from from senior middie David Oyler with 3:08 left to play in the third.

Appleton pulled away later in the third when it scored two unassisted goals in the in 94 seconds. Senior Brian Hass put one away at 2:31, and freshman middie Dylon Stockman took the ball the length of the field to score the eventual game-winner with 57 seconds left in the third.

Neenah would pull within one in the fourth and forced a number of turnovers in the remaining 5 minutes to give Appleton everything it could handle. But the Appleton defense and sophomore goalie Quinn Kroon stood up to the challenge to beat the defending conference champs.

“We threw the ball away a little bit on offense, but the defense was solid,” Kroon said. “You can’t ask for a better group of guys in front of me.”

Despite taking the loss, Neenah coach Paul Zielski liked what he saw from the Rockets as they start their campaign to repeat as conference champs.

“Tonight, we worked out some kinks,” he said. “It’s one game, and it’s still going to be a great season.”

Appleton’s trip to Hudson has been cancelled due to the forecast predicting bad weather, so the team’s next game is April 21 vs. D.C. Everest. Neenah heads to D.C. Everest on Tuesday.

 

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With a conference title on the line and a one-goal deficit to rival Appleton United, Neenah boys lacrosse coach Paul Zielski called a second-quarter timeout with a message specifically for the eight seniors on his roster:

This is your game.

The elder Rockets immediately responded. Senior Ike Miller scored four goals in a five-goal run to put Neenah ahead for good in a 14-12 victory that completed the Rockets’ undefeated Bay Valley Conference season.

“We put it on our seniors’ shoulders, and those guys stepped up,” Zielski said. “We came together as a team and played really strongly.”

Neenah (15-4-1, 9-0 Bay Valley Conference) and Appleton traded goals throughout the first quarter until Appleton (11-5, 7-2) took a 4-3 lead off sophomore Nate Htwe’s two second-quarter goals. That’s when Zielski called the timeout that would change the course of the game.

“We called a timeout, brought everyone together to cool everyone off, and Coach just said, ‘Put it on your backs, seniors,’” Miller said. “And we practiced that ever since right off the dodge.”

Miller responded with four unanswered goals over a six-minute span. He would finish the game with five goals.

“He’s a complete player,” Zielski said. “He’s a kid you want to have with the ball in his hands in the last 30 seconds if you need a goal because he can work, and he’s not a selfish player. He deserves an all-state nomination.”

Senior middie Reid Molitor scored one of his team-high six goals to cap off the five-goal run that gave the Rockets a 7-4 lead with 55 seconds left in the half.

Appleton cut Neenah’s lead to one with 4 minutes, 1 second left to play when junior attack Liam Janson scored his sixth goal of the game to bring the score the 13-12. United’s offense would threaten multiple times in the final moments of the game, but Neenah’s senior goalie Matt Lange – the 2016 Bay Valley Conference player of the year – made countless saves to keep the Rockets in the lead.

“In the last 30 seconds, he had three beautiful saves and kept us from letting this game get any closer,” Zielski said. “He put a lot on his shoulders, too.”

Despite not winning the conference crown, Appleton coach Eric Marsh was far from disappointed in his team’s effort considering the experience gap between the two squads. While Neenah’s roster is loaded with seniors, 11 of United’s 19 players are underclassmen, so a two-goal loss for the conference title is a huge morale boost.

“This was an experience game for us,” Marsh said. “We’re super young. For us to go in and battle like this against a team with great seniors, I’ll take the two-goal loss.”

Neenah will host Wausau in the regional semifinal round of the state tournament Tuesday evening. Appleton hosts Janesville on Tuesday evening, as well.

This season WisconsinLacrosse.com highlighted select games from around the State of Wisconsin. Made possible by a donation from Amplify Lacrosse.   

The Brookfield boys lacrosse team had its way with Franklin for about 44 of the 48 minutes of regulation Tuesday night at Brookfield East High School, dominating the Sabers physically and scoring at will throughout the game.

But the most memorable moments came in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter as Franklin managed to overcome a five-goal deficit to force overtime. Brookfield senior attacker Jordan Hoehnen brought the game to a close with a goal in overtime for an Bluejays 11-10 victory in one of the best games of the 2017 Wisconsin boys lacrosse season.

“We have battled for consistency throughout the year, so with us putting together a real solid fourth quarter – you don’t like to come out of this game with a loss – but it is definitely character building to come back from five goals down and force overtime,” said J.C. Stahl, Franklin’s interim head coach who was filling in for Dave Diehl for the night. “It is something we can build on for the playoffs.”

It looked like smooth sailing for Brookfield (6-4) from opening faceoff onward for the Bluejays. They took a 5-0 lead over Franklin (6-4) with 5 minutes, 35 seconds left to play in the second quarter, led by two goals from senior middie Nicky Steigerwaldt.

“I thought it was our best start to a game all season,” Brookfield coach Vincent Witt said. “They came out and we had five right away. Offensively we were just being patient. Our crease guys were moving quite nicely. And then we weren’t forcing it or turning it over.”

The Sabers fought back to within 2 by scoring three unanswered goals in less than a minute heading into halftime, including two goals from junior middie Mitchell Hansing within 28 seconds of each other.

In the second half, Brookfield turned up the physical play and the defensive pressure, putting plenty of Sabers on the ground en route to building a 10-5 lead with 8:55 left in the game. With 4 minutes to play in the fourth, however, the Sabers began cutting into that margin, starting with back-to-back goals from sophomore attacker Mitchell Kaye and sophomore middie Connor Lindsay in a 15-second span. Kaye added his third goal of the quarter – and the minute – with 3:18 left to play to cut Brookfield’s lead to 10-8.

At the 2:09 mark, Hansing chipped in his third goal of the night to bring Franklin within one.

After two Brookfield penalties, sophomore Matthew Moen sent the game to overtime with a man-up goal for the Sabers with three seconds left in regulation.

“The biggest thing for us was starting to put the ball on the cage,” Stahl said. “I think we had a ton of shots throughout the game that just weren’t hitting the marks. We started putting the ball on the cage and they started going in the net.”

One reason the Bluejays kept the Sabers at bay for so long was the play of junior goalie Jonah Hestetune. He saved 10 shots, including four in the second quarter and two in the critical sudden victory period.

“He played out of his mind, to be quite honest,” Witt said. “That was his best game of the season. I don’t know what he had for breakfast this morning, but he should do it all over again.”

With the overtime victory, Witt hopes the Bluejays can reverse a troubling trend from earlier this year that saw Brookfield giving away leads in games that turned into losses. Continuing to fight after Franklin came back from five goals down is a step in the right direction.

“It says a lot to their character and determination to sticking to what they know they can do in order to succeed,” Witt said. “At the beginning of the year, we had leads and we blew them. Hopefully, we can continue to play this way, but time will tell.”

Steigerwaldt and Hoehnen finished the game with three goals apiece for the Bluejays. Senior middie Aaron Keech and sophomore attacker Aidan Packham added two goals each for Brookfield, as well.

Brookfield travels to Wauwatosa for its next game on Monday. Franklin visits University School of Milwaukee on Monday, as well.

Each week WisconsinLacrosse.com will highlight a select game from around the State of Wisconsin. Made possible by a donation from Amplify Lacrosse.