Marquette University High School (MUHS) coach Rich Pruszynski preaches to the Hilltoppers boys’ lacrosse team to make sure they “follow the process” that will lead them to success come playoff time. If that includes scoring two goals in a matter of seconds multiple times a game, then that process certainly is worth following.

The Hilltoppers’ stifling second-half defense combined with a rapid-firing offense proved to be too much for Waukesha as MUHS won, 14-7, in a Classic 8 Conference Red Division matchup.
“We want to win, but we want our guys to follow the process,” Pruszynski said. “If our guys do that, the outcome will take care of itself. We try to put our guys in positions that will allow them to be successful.”

That process proved fruitful for MUHS (3-5, 2-1 Classic 8 Red) throughout the third quarter. With a slim 7-5 lead coming out of halftime, the Hilltoppers scored two goals in just 12 seconds.

Attacker Henry Florance scored off a pass from middie William Stegeman before middie Jacob Klenz added another goal seconds later with 10 minutes, 33 seconds to play in the third. Attacker Sean Duffey and Florance pulled off the same feat in just 10 seconds – both off assists from middie Jon Langenfeld – to give MUHS a 12-6 lead through three quarters.

“Every time I fed my teammates, they were just finishing everything, so that helped me a lot,” said Langenfeld, who finished the game with four goals and three assists to lead the Hilltoppers. “They were setting me up to score, and that’s where everything came from.”

On defense, MUHS disrupted Waukesha (3-5, 1-2) long enough to keep the Nighthawks out of sorts. When Waukesha did break through, Hilltoppers’ goalie John Estrada saved eight shots, including four in the second quarter.

Along with the significance in the Classic 8 Red standings – the victory propelled MUHS into a tie for third place with Catholic Memorial – Estrada said the win over Waukesha gives the Hilltoppers a boost after a recent rough skid. Before Tuesday night, MUHS had dropped two out of three in a tournament in Indiana against some of the top teams in the Midwest, preceded by a three-game skid against Arrowhead, Waunakee and Catholic Memorial.

“We had a losing streak against some big rivals, and this is changing the momentum of the season, so we’re going to show it to league,” Estrada said.

MUHS heads to Middleton on Saturday for its next game.

For Waukesha, attacker Tyler Stanfield scored two goals and an assist. Next up for the Nighthawks is a road game against Oak Creek on Thursday night.

The Lakeshore boy’s lacrosse team – a co-op consisting of athletes primarily from Whitefish Bay and Shorewood high schools – has come a long way since its founding in 2009.

That experience was on display Tuesday night as the Ripsharks handily defeated West Bend – a program playing in just its second season – at Shorewood High School by the score of 16-0.

“I think it helps tremendously with our confidence and making sure we know how we can play when we put our minds to it and when we execute our game plan and the things that we work on in practice every day,” said junior attacker Tyler Keanealy, who scored three of Lakeshore’s nine first-quarter goals. “We took the next step tonight because we played as a team.”
Lakeshore (2-1) scored early and often against West Bend, with junior attacker Nick West scoring first at 10 minutes, 40 seconds in the first quarter. Sophomore middie Matt Pogorelc, Keanealy and West scored three goals in a 17-second span to take the score to 4-0. Pogorelc would finish the game with four goals.
“I think we came out and executed early and got out to a nice lead, then we got to work on some stuff that we hadn’t got to work on in practices,” Lakeshore coach Zack Davis said.
After dropping a 16-8 loss to Marquette on April 11, junior goalie Nolan Fergus bounced back with his first shutout at the varsity level. As a former goalie at Concordia University of Wisconsin, Davis understood the significance of this milestone for Fergus.
“He did a really good job of keeping that ball out of the net,” Davis said. “That was one of the things I said at the beginning of the year – if we have a goalie who can take care of those shots from the outside, then we’ll be successful. I give a lot of props to him.”
The lopsided score also gave Lakeshore the opportunity to give some of its junior varsity players a chance to take the field at the varsity level. Davis gave significant time to sophomore attacker Ryan Burns, who ended up earning a game ball by scoring two goals and an assist for the Ripsharks.
“This year, we’re running into some number issues, so we have a lot of kids that are going to be playing some varsity and JV time,” Davis said. “He’s one of those kids, and I told him from the start of the year if he comes out and gives the same intensity that he gave us tonight, he’ll get a ton of minutes.”
Up next, Lakeshore will visit Brookfield at Brookfield Central High School on Friday night.

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

It’s always a great feeling to land that elusive first victory of the season after an extended winless drought. But the Middleton boys lacrosse team managed to make their first win of 2017 extra special by taking down Hudson – the 2016 state runner-up – in a 13-10 home game at Breitenbach Stadium.

“I’m hoping they realize this is a huge confidence boost for them,” Cardinals coach Matthew Bock said. “But we’re still really early in the season, so anything can happen for anybody. We have a particular path we can follow now.”

Although Middleton (1-4) lost their first four games of the season, Bock made note of the difficult schedule the Cardinals endured to start the year. The Cardinals played their first four games over eight days, including two games with perennial powerhouses Kettle Moraine and conference foe Verona.

Getting in a week of practice before Hudson (3-3) came to town Saturday proved fruitful in the first half alone. The Cardinals put up eight goals – more goals that they had scored in any one game before hosting the Raiders – to take a 2-goal lead into halftime.

“That was the nice thing about this week – we got the kids to refocus themselves,” Bock said. “To have them come out here and have an entirely different mindset than they’ve had the last couple weeks because of some of the sore losses is a big testament to the work they put in.”

Attacker Lane Wahlgren scored three of his four goals in the first half, including the third of a 3-0 Middleton run that gave the Cardinals the 8-6 lead going into halftime.

“When you start of 0-4, that sucks,” Wahlgren said. “But we’re making the strides and the right amount of adjustments that we need to in practice to go out here and compete with whoever we want to.”
The Raiders would get within one goal twice in the second half, but Middleton sealed the victory with another 3-0 run with about 5 minutes left in the game. Middleton goalie Tyler Dohmeier made 20 saves for the Cardinals, including six in the fourth quarter alone.

“This was obviously one of Tyler’s best games over his career,” Bock said. “He had a number of dramatic saves in a number of key situations, and he was able to dial himself in and stay focused, especially seeing a lot of great shots from Verona. They weren’t holding back.”

To Hudson’s credit, the Raiders had a long day between a roughly three-and-a-half-hour road trip and a morning tilt against Verona, where they lost 12-9. But Hudson coach Jake Johnson wasn’t prepared to make excuses for a flat performance by his team.

“Mental mistakes killed us, unforced turnovers killed,” Johnson said. “We came off a really tough, physical game against Verona, and we weren’t ready to butt heads with another team.”
Tanner Gornick and Cole Danielson each scored three goals for the Raiders. Goalie Luke Erickson made 11 saves in the second half off the bench for Hudson.

Middleton heads to Waunakee Tuesday with hopes of securing their first Madison Area Conference – Red Division victory of the season. Hudson has two weeks off before hosting Waunakee then traveling to Red River in Grand Forks, N.D., on April 29.

 

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

Opening the conference season with a “W” always makes for a warm ride home after spending 48 minutes in blustery and rainy conditions. However, serving up some revenge to the team that beat you to open Classic 8 play a year ago remains a dish best served cold.

The Franklin boys lacrosse team used a furious offensive attack that punished Homestead for its lackluster transition defense and penalties to beat the Highlanders, 20-14, at Sullivan Stadium in Franklin.
“Last year, they beat us in the conference opener, so it was definitely a point of emphasis this year to beat them,” Franklin coach Dave Diehl said. “Our goal is to win the conference, so it was important to start the year right.”
Franklin (4-0, 1-0 Classic 8 Red) led by as many as three goals in the first quarter, and the Sabers took a 10-8 lead into halftime. Sophomore attack Mitchell Kaye led the charge by scoring all five of his goals in the first half. Junior middie Mitchell Hansing added two of his five goals in the first half, as well.
Homestead (1-2, 0-2) managed to tie the game at 10 at 2 minutes, 14 seconds into the third quarter. Junior attack Cole Tietyen scored the second of his three goals before senior attack Andy Buchanan’s second of the game knotted the score.
Shortly thereafter, the Sabers would go on a 10-4 scoring run to pull away from the Highlanders for good. Franklin was aided by a 2-minute, locked-in penalty on Homestead in the third quarter. During that stretch, the Sabers scored three goals, two by Hansing that sandwiched a score by junior middie Braden Schubring. Senior attack Ben Nackel assisted on Hansing’s goals during the penalty, as well.
“We executed the man-up offense we practiced, and they went out and moved the ball well,” Diehl said. “They didn’t force things and were as patient as they needed to be. They waited for the defense and took advantage.”
Senior goalie Nathan Murphy kept the Highlanders at bay with 12 saves in the game, including seven during a vicious third quarter that saw Homestead on the doorstep for at least five close-range shots.
“Murph is a monster – that guy is outstanding,” Kaye said. “He can save them from far out and he can save them from close range as you saw in the third quarter.”
Franklin sophomore Connor Lindsay helped seal the victory with three fourth-quarter goals, as well.
For Homestead, senior middie Johnny Erpenbeck finished the game with three goals. Junior attack Brady Bartz added two goals for the Highlanders.
“It was a good game that was well fought, but we made a lot of mistakes with penalties and in transition,” Homestead coach Mike LaValle said. “Those are things you have to stop. You can’t give up easy goals against a good team.”
Franklin’s next game will be against 2016 state runner up Hudson on Saturday in Wisconsin Dells. Homestead will host Oneida Nation on Friday.

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

It took the Arrowhead boys lacrosse team over a decade to get the chance to host a game at hallowed Taraska Stadium, but the Warhawks barely wasted a moment to get their first victory in their new digs.

Arrowhead scored three goals in just over 2 minutes over visiting Marquette University High School (MUHS) and never looked back as the they beat the Hilltoppers, 14-9, in their first game in the school’s football stadium.

“This is big because it took us 12 years to get here,” said coach Erin Ennis, who also notched the 100^th victory of his career. “Tonight was the perfect storm of being here for the first time and being against a quality opponent that made it a special event for us.”

Senior Tommy Miller christened Taraska Stadium for Arrowhead (1-0, 1-0 Classic 8 Conference) when he scored his first of three goals just 22 seconds into the game. Junior Jack Cieslak scored the first of his four goals 47 seconds later, and Miller added another goal with 9 minutes, 48 seconds left in the quarter to give the Warhawks a 3-0 lead.

“We’ve always wanted to play on this field since we always had to play on that uneven field,” Miller said. “When we got into the huddle, we were super hyped up and came out ecstatic and we were ready to fire. We got a goal in the first 22 seconds because we knew we had to get up early because MUHS is a good team.”

Connor Cope, Will Lauterbach and Connor Hanley each added a goal in the first quarter to give the Warhawks the insurmountable 6-0 lead.

“You can always wait until the end of the game and try and catch up, but if you come out and create some margin, then you’re controlling the game,” Ennis said.

MUHS (1-1, 0-1) would pull within three goals in the second quarter. The Hilltoppers managed to stop the Arrowhead attack to score three unanswered goals, the first two by senior Jon Langenfeld with senior William Stegeman bringing the score to 6-3. After Cieslak scored Arrowhead’s seventh goal with 3:33 left in the first half, MUHS cut the lead to three again on a goal by senior Jacob Klenz.

“We weren’t stepping out on the ball, so we let the ball carrier dictate a little more than we like to,” MUHS coach Rich Pruszynski said. “We like to dictate on defense and we didn’t do that.”

Lauterbach and Cope also finished with three goals apiece for Arrowhead. Langenfeld had five altogether for MUHS, and Stegeman added two.

Arrowhead travels to Wauwatosa East/West Friday, April 7, for a nonconference matchup against the Blazers. MUHS heads to Waunakee Saturday to take on the Warriors at Mitchell Park

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