Big East balance of power starting to shift

A marquee matchup between top-notch rival high school soccer squads turned into a near blowout in Fredonia last Thursday.

Random Lake/Ozaukee took a 5-0 lead and held on for a 5-3 win over Cedar Grove-Belgium, the dominant team in the Big East Conference the past several seasons and now has a chance to win the league title.

The game featured three of the area’s top goal scorers: RLO’s Mya Schroeder and the Rockets’ Arden Getschman and Gracie Schmidt.

RLO coach Matt Wilson knew the gravity of the game.

“This was the game to find out if we were as good as our record shows, the big test,” he said. “I was wondering what mindset the girls would have coming into this game, were they going to be nervous and let that take them over or would they just get after it? That question was answered for me during warm-ups, you could see their focus and attention to detail with everything they were doing and the energy was high.”

RLO won the toss, took the wind at its back for the first half, then took the lead nearly right after the kickoff.

The Rockets’ Gracie Schmidt missed a breakaway scoring chance early, and RLO took a 3-0 lead 14 minutes into the game.

“If there was a game where everything went wrong that could go wrong, that would be it,” Rockets’ coach Zac Garza said.

“We were struggling to deal with their balls into the gaps and behind our defense.”

A formation change stopped the damage and kept the score 3-0 at half.

Early in the second half, the Rockets’ Kami Horn, who hasn’t been 100% for most of the season, missed on a breakaway.

RLO scored two more goals in the first eight minutes.

Getschman scored twice, and Schmidt scored once for the Rockets, but it was too little too late.

“The hole that we dug in the first half was too big to overcome,” Garza said.

“I do feel that Arden played very well. She sparked the comeback with a beautiful left-footed goal outside the box.”

For RLO, Lexi Wilson had two goals, and Schroeder, Lexi Gruman and Faith Wilson each had one. Gruman had two assists. Lexi Wilson and Mia Evraets each had one. Keeper Bianca Marini made 10 saves.

Wilson was thrilled with his team’s performance.

“Every last player brought their A game and then they put it all together on the field. It was a great victory for our program, and it showed these girls what they are capable of moving forward if they want it bad enough,” he said.

“It was a pretty evenly played game all the way through, and both teams had their opportunities, I think this game we just finished better a couple more times than they did.”

Garza said his team didn’t capitalize on its chances.

“That is a game where I feel strongly that we could have come out of there with 10 goals. The opportunities that we were missing, I was in disbelief,” he said.

For RLO, Lexi Wilson had two goals, and Mya Schroeder, Gruman and Faith Wilson each had one. Gruman had two assists. Lexi Wilson and Evraets each had one. Marini made 10 saves.

The last time Ozaukee beat Cedar Grove-Belgium was 2016. The last time Random Lake beat the Rockets was 2011. RLO is in the third year of its co-op and hadn’t beaten Cedar Grove-Belgium.

The Rockets lost more than the game. In the first half, Raygan Bialzik, one of the team’s rising stars in the midfield, injured her knee and is likely done for the season. It’s the third starter the Rockets have lost for the year, and multiple other players aren’t 100% healthy either, Garza said. He hasn’t played his preferred starting lineup once this season.

Cedar Grove-Belgium came into the game ranked No. 6 in Division 3. RLO was ranked No. 7 in Division 4 in the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association weekly poll.

The Rockets beat Oostburg, 2-1, on May 12, in one half. The game was cut short by lightning. Horn had a goal and an assist. Getschman scored and Schmidt had an assist.

RLO takes second in rough tourney

RLO won, 8-0, at Manitowoc Lutheran on May 12. Gruman had four goals. Schroeder had three. Addison Kurlinski had one. Gruman, Schroeder and Evraets each had an assist.

At the eight-team Kiel tournament last Saturday, RLO won two games before losing the title to the hosts.

RLO beat Kaukauna, 2-0. Schroeder had two goals. Evraets and Kurlinski each had an assist.

RLO beat Kewaskum, 2-0. Schroeder and Faith Wilson each had a goal. Gruman and Evraets each had an assist.

In the title game, Evraets scored and Schroeder had an assist in a 4-1 loss.

Coach Wilson credited Kiel, ranked No. 1 in Division 3, for playing better, but wasn’t happy with the officiating. The game only had two refs instead of three, and “neither have the ability to keep up with the speed of the game or the back lines of each team to cover their half of the field,” he said.

“My issue with this game is player safety which those refs are responsible for and this game got completely out of hand. What we were left with was our keeper Bianca Marini getting taken out of the game from a malicious hit and we are very fortunate she didn’t end up in an ambulance. There was no intent to play the ball whatsoever. Mya Schroeder and Faith Wilson being taken down from behind multiple times each with dangerous play. All of this resulted in no call or even a warning.”

Marini and Faith Wilson’s status for this week were unknown. They had already lost all-conference defender Chloe Dybul for the season to a knee injury.

RLO, 6-0 in the Big East and 11-3 overall, was to play at Sheboygan Lutheran/Christian (3-2-1 Big East). RLO hosts Howards Grove (4-0-2) on Thursday, May 21, for what could be the Big East title. RLO hosts Living Word Lutheran on Tuesday, May 26.

Cedar Grove-Belgium, 4-1-1 in the Big East and 10-4-2 overall, was to host Kohler (3-3) on Tuesday, May 19. The Rockets play at Elkart Lake-Glenbeulah (0-5-1) on Thursday, May 21, at Grafton on Friday, May 22, and host St. Mary’s Springs on Tuesday, May 26.