Kicking into high gear early:

Grafton High School’s girls’ soccer team has been challenged multiple times to start the season, and the Black Hawks have passed every test.

The lastest came last Friday at home against last year’s Division 4 runner-up Random Lake/Ozaukee.

The Hawks fell behind for the first time in three games this season, but answered with three goals in the second half in a 5-2 win.

The game was a bit of a scoring duel between Grafton junior Katelyn Valenta and RLO sophomore Mya Schroeder.

Both have played club and neither played for their schools last season, although Valenta played for the Hawks as a freshman.

She scored three times, and Schroeder scored twice as both strikers burst through or past defenders to get open shots.

“It’s been really great getting back. All my friends are on this team,” Valenta said. “It’s just different playing out here with them. You’re friends with them off the field, which on the field makes it so much easier because you get to do everything with them. It just fuels you to play every single game for them because you’re not just doing it for yourself, you’re doing it for your teammates as well.”

Valenta already has six goals and two assists on the season.

“I think her playing all-year-round club soccer last year was a good thing. I would have loved to have had her last year but I think she developed a lot more, and you can see it this year,” coach Jason Rogers said.

“She just adds an extra dynamic to us, some pace, some composure up top. The ability to strike a ball. That’s a girl that just doesn’t give up. She’s going to run through everything. She’s going to chase down things.”

Valenta has already fit in well with Ava and Mila Dotson, Brooklyn LaMontagne, Sierra Javorski and Lily Verplancke, who was filling in at keeper while Paige Proefrock was at a volleyball tournament.

“I haven’t played it in, like, seven years. I felt like I never left,” Verplancke said.

“Those six are interchangeable for us. The play doesn’t drop; the runs don’t drop,” Rogers said. “We can get rest to them so they’re fresh and can go longer and better.”

RLO Coach Matt Wilson said he knew facing Grafton’s team speed would be a challenge.

“Missing three starters and a goalkeeper playing through an injury was going to make things even more difficult. Having said that, I thought the girls played pretty well and it was a very even match all the way through,” he said.

“Freshmen Ashlyn Schubert and Emily Tinder, getting their first starts, did a nice job in their roles as defensive wings. Mya Schroeder really gave Grafton’s back line all they could handle and then some.”

Dotson scored on an assist from Brayleigh Sumner to tie the game at one, and Valenta gave the Hawks the lead on an assist from Javorski before Schroeder tied the game before halftime.

The Hawks turned it up a notch in the second half.

Valenta scored on an assist from LaMontagne, then Sumner from Mila Dotson. Valenta added a late goal for the final score.

“At halftime we talked defensively about how we can slow down 17 (Schroeder), who’s a fantastic player for them. Credit to Aliza (Emanuele) and Olivia (Ruff). I think they took it a little personal,” Rogers said.

“Our offense showed up to what our offense is expected to be this year — moving the ball around and pace, and putting balls in the back of the net. Credit to those girls, they took the instructions at halftime and implemented them.”

Sumner said, “I feel like we brought the energy the second half. We knew what needed to be done. We kept sending the through balls and kept finding our forwards so we could get those two (balls) back in the net.”

RLO keeper Bianca Marini, banged up from a game earlier in the week, made 15 saves, including a couple of diving ones.

Rogers was glad his team faced adversity in falling behind, and he liked how players responded.

“Having that adversity and coming out on the other end of it, I think, is a real big confidence boost for them going into the North Shore,” he said.

The Hawks began the season April 7 with a 3-0 home win over Kettle Moraine Lutheran, the team that bounced Grafton from the playoffs in a shootout in a regional final last season.

Valenta and Sumner each had a goal and an assist, and Mila Dotson scored. Ruff had an assist.

“The game was a little bit, at least for the returning players, a little personal. I’m glad we got to schedule them first on the schedule. Get right back on that horse,” Rogers said. “The girls came out hungry and played very well.”

On April 8, Grafton won, 6-0, at Heritage Christian. Valenta had two goals and an assist, and Mila Dotson and Sumner each had two goals. Ruff and Ava Dotson each had two assists, and June Wieland had one.

Grafton was scheduled to host Hartford on Tuesday, April 14. The Hawks host Shorewood on Thursday, April 16, and play at Whitefish Bay on Tuesday, April 21.

RLO notches win over bigger school

RLO won, 4-0, at West Bend Co-op, a school about five times the combined size of Random Lake and Ozaukee, on April 7.

Schroeder scored twice and had an assist. Lexi Grumen scored twice, and Mia Evraets and Hannah Learned each had an assist.

Schroeder, who plays outside back in club, is happy she joined the team and is playing offense.

“I knew it was going to be a lot of fun, just being able to play with some of my classmates. With Random Lake and Ozaukee joining, it’s fun to play with both sides and get to know new people,” she said.

“Mya Schroeder joining the team brings us a true finisher. She has the ability to strike from anywhere, and it is fun to watch how she attacks the opposing defense. I look for her to only get stronger as she settles in with her new teammates around her,” Wilson said.

Center back Chloe Dybul, a Big East first team player, left the game after a four-player collision. Marini was also involved but stayed in the game and earned her first shutout.

“Freshman Addison Kurlinski stepped right in and took over the defense. She played a great game,” Wilson said.

RLO, 1-2, was to play at Kewaunee on Tuesday, April 14. It plays at Kewaskum on Thursday, April 16, and opens Big East play at Oostburg on Tuesday, April 21.

“We’re building back up,” senior co-captain Faith Wilson said. “We have Mya Schroeder. We didn’t have her last year. So I think now we just need to figure out how to work as a team with some new people.”