Tietz's Highs, Lows and In-Betweens--Aug. 31-Sept. 7
Trying to keep track of all the successful North Shore area fall high school teams is like hitting the jackpot in a slot machine.
You love what you're seeing, but where do go with all of it?
So here's round two of attempting to make sense of all this curious, interesting and maddening stuff (the vast majority of which we couldn't fit into the paper this week) that went on in the region last week.
UNDER THE HEADING: A YOUTH MOVEMENT IS NOT REALLY A BAD THINGThe youthful Shorewood girls tennis team, with only two seniors on their varsity roster, continued their good start to the season with a pair of 6-1 victories over Cudahy and St. Francis last week.
Shorewood also went 1-2 in the recently held University School Tournament, falling to Wausau Newman and the host Wildcats. They are made up of the following singles players, senior Lydia Hellwig at first, and freshmen Victoria Nelsen, Kristin Repins and Elana Lambert at the two, three and four spots, respectively.In doubles, sophomores Lizzie Tews and Mary Matoba will handle the first spot, while at two will be senior Brie Keane and sophomore Ellen Gough and at three sophomore Ari Schwartz and junior Lauren Kneisel.“We lost 5 seniors at the end of last season and sophomore Deme Hellwig (fourth singles last year) is out this entire season with an injury,” said Coach Margie Van Lieshout. “We have a very young team with only two seniors on varsity. ..but we’ve competed well and had some good matches.”
...OR, MAYBE NOT
The rebuilding Shorewood boys soccer team is off to a 3-4 start this fall as it seeks to replace 13 seniors off a 17-2-1 team that went unbeaten in the Woodland Conference last season.In last week’s action, Shorewood fell to New Berlin West 3-1, after beating Pewaukee 1-0, in a pair of Woodland tilts. Junior midfielder Dominic Quinan had the gamewinner against Pewaukee as junior goalie Daniel Billick made six saves.Captains for the Greyhounds this season include seniors midfielder James Quinan, defender Henry Thomas, midfielder Mat Thompsen and forward Chris Kartheiser.Shorewood will take a trip north this weekend, taking on Green Bay Notre Dame at 4 p.m. Friday and then Bay Port at 11 a.m. Saturday.
FRIENDS/NEIGHBORS/COMPETITORSThe boys volleyball season finally got going Sept. 2 when Homestead overpowered Bay by a 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 count.
Bay, which will be coached by Jake Nowak this fall, will be young this season with only four seniors (Mitchell, Pignotti, Chris Nichols, Casey Frensz and Tommy Koehn) on the roster. Another contributor will be junior Charlie Sather.The Blue Dukes will be at the Waukesha North Triangular at 4 p.m. Friday.Nichols had 12 kills and Pignotti 30 assists in the loss.
Homestead, which is coached by Todd Lyon, will be led by five seniors including captains Matt Savage (outside hitter), Will Ault (setter) and Brian Hoffman (middle blocker). The other seniors are middle blocker Patrick Jones and outside hitter Erik Grothman.The Highlanders will be at the talent-laden Racine Park Invitational at 9 a.m. Saturday.THAT WHICH DOESN'T KILL YOU WILL ONLY MAKE YOU STRONGER
Again knocking heads against a great Division I crew from the Greater Metro Conference, the Shorewood boys cross country team took a strong second to Brookfield Central in the 17-school Bulldog Invitational at a fast and flat McCarty Park on Sept. 4.The Greyhounds scored 67 points, as Central won with 54 and Waukesha West was third with 91. Ben Tyler (16:09) and Peter Drews (16:19) took third and fourth, respectively for Shorewood on the 5,000-meter course as other scoring runners were John Taylor in 15th (17:11), Joseph Pendleton in 16th (17:15) and Aidan Mazur in 29th (17:33).Also running were Brendan Vorphal in 43rd (18:00) and Keith Dodd in 58th (18:35).The Greyhounds, who lost to GMC champ Marquette in a close effort the previous week at their own meet, will now be at the Arrowhead Invite on Sept. 10, which will feature the state power host school among a host of other Division I heavyweights.
STRONGER: PART 2Nicolet boy soccer coach Brian Weisse likes the way his team competes, he just wishes it could find the back of the net a little more often.
"After our Eastside Cup win (earlier this season) we have had a difficult time scoring," he said. "We tied (0-0) Kettle Moraine who at the time was top ten in the area. We lost a close match to Port Washington 2-1 in extra time. Sophomore Daniel Carpenter scored our lone goal in the match. We also played Menomonee Falls and lost 4-1 with David Yarmulnik scoring our goal."
"In the near future (Sept. 8, 12, 15, and 17) we have matches against Grafton, Brookfield Central, Homestead, and a tentatively scheduled match against Whitefish Bay (rescheduled from a stormy night in August). These are the types of stretches that can prepare a team for playoffs and are exciting. We hope to have an upset in a match and to play good football in all of them."
"We have been playing well in stretches, just not an entire 80 minutes. If we can string solid play together for an entire match we will be difficult to beat."
THE FIGHT FOR RESPECT GOES ON
The fight for respectability continues to be a good one for the Nicolet cross country teams as the Knight boys took another step forward with a sound fifth-place finish in the 16-team Leighton Betz Memorial Invite at Greenfield Park on Sept. 4.Nicolet scored 167 points as Appleton East won with 68.Nathan Frazer was 17th (17:27) and Josh Greenburg 18th (17:32) on the 5,000-meter Greenfield Park course. Other scoring runners were Ethan Klein in 31st (18:00), Jeffrey McClain 45th (18:26) and Brandon Zall 56th (18:44).Also running for the Knights were Matt Bootsma in 72nd (19:01) and Sean Mannion in 76th (19:05).
For the girls, who are fighting off the stigma of a last-place North Shore Conference finish of a year ago, the news is even better, as they took seventh of 16 with 217 points as Arrowhead won with 64.
The youth movement remains firmly in place for the Knights, as freshman Lauren Cunningham was 15th (16:25) and sophomore Christie Crossman was 29th (16:55). Other runners included senior Polly Durant in 52nd (17:30), freshman Allison Maling 53rd (17:31), junior Ashley Green 68th (17:47), freshman Kristen Maling 80th (18:09) and sophomore Briana Lopez 87th (18:23).
CHALLENGING YOURSELF
No one will accuse the 2-1 Whitefish Bay boys soccer team of ducking anyone. The Blue Dukes, who edged Germantown, 2-1, in a North Shore game last week, will host defending state champion Marquette in a 7 p.m. tilt on Saturday.
Then following a league tilt with returning state semifinalist Homestead on Sept. 22, the Blue Dukes will likely lock horns with powerful Brookfield Central in the Lancer Invitational in Brookfield on Sept. 26. To make it even more interesting, they will head down to Collinsville, Illinois for tangles with some regional powers Oct. 2 and 3 and then visit Arrowhead to close out the regular season Oct. 8.
In the win over Germantown, Bay got goals from Austin Middleton (Charlie Hoover assist) and Brady King (Robert Courtney)
GOOD HOSTS
The Brown Deer boys soccer team began its own Cup Tournament last weekend with a 3-0 win over Carmen High School, but then lost a heartbreaking shootout to Elkhorn after tying them 3-3 in regulation of a thrilling semifinal tilt.
The Falcons, who feature seven sophomores and two freshmen on their roster, then ran out of a gas in a 3-0 loss to Racine Prairie in the consolation game. New Berlin West won the tournament.
Brown Deer, which is now 4-4-1 overall, defeated Greenfield in a Woodland Conference game 4-2, on Sept. 2, as Rafath Fanou-Agossou had two goals and an assist, while David Radtke and Dylan Coleman also found the back of the net and Sam Kuchenreuther had two assists.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"They're nice kids, they work hard and they've put in the miles. I can already tell they're going to be a lot less stressful than other groups I've had. ...but we have to quit holding hands in the back of the pack."
---MIKE MILLER, Whitefish Bay Boys Cross Country Coach, on his 2009 team, which will likely have to work hard to be really competitive this fall.
"What was really neat is that the kids got together on their own right before the race for a special little prayer. I had nothing to do with it. They did it on their own."
---VICTOR VILAR, Homestead Girls Cross Country Coach and youth paster at Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Mequon about the preparations for the Bulldog Invitational at McCarty Park last Friday. The Highlanders dominated the meet. The team has drawn closer together since the passing of former coach Andy Edington last spring.
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