Port soccer goes 1-1 vs. the West Bends

Senior nights are usually special times for those getting ready to graduate, and Port Washington’s Ben Hughes kicked it up a notch on Oct. 2.

The senior midfielder player scored a goal less than three minutes into the game against West Bend East, and then added two more barely a minute apart in the second half for the hat trick in a 4-0 victory.

“He had a big game. It was a Senior Night for him to remember, that’s for sure,” coach Sean O’Brien said.

One of Hughes’ goals was assisted by junior midfielder Thomas Garant, and another came on a penalty kick.

“They were good overall team goals,” O’Brien said.

The Pirates were confident entering the game.

“We felt like we matched up really well against West Bend East. We used a lot of our speed on the wings,” O’Brien said.

“We wore them down, got an early one, and just kind of kept going at them.”

He said junior goalkeeper Cale Theis “had a couple of nice saves that helped preserve the shutout.”

The Pirates’ momentum ran out when it played West Bend’s better half — at least in soccer this season — last Thursday.

West Bend West won, 1-0.

“I thought west came out and put us under a lot of pressure and didn’t let us get into our game,” O’Brien said.

Port had a couple of scoring chances in the first half, including one with Hughes leading a breakaway. A Spartan came out of nowhere to clear the ball off the line.

“It was a game-changer one way or the other,” O’Brien said. “Credit West for not giving up on the play.”

O’Brien credited junior forward Neil Schlessinger for playing hard despite being a little beat up. The Pirates were without junior midfielder Charlie Neitzke due to illness, and Cody Seitz got his first start.

O’Brien said he had to pull out defenders Jake Markiewicz and Shane McConahy due to injuries. He said he hopes his team can get healthy for the playoffs starting Oct. 16. Port is in Division 3 this year, and its regional includes five teams ranked in the top 10, O’Brien said.

Grafton gets shellacked in ‘road game’

The game against Hartford was bad enough for Grafton’s soccer team. The fact that wet conditions made it a road contest was just insult to injury.

The Orioles beat the Black Hawks, 9-1, on Oct. 2. They took a 5-1 first half lead and kept pouring it on.

Victor Geiser scored the Hawks’ goal.

“It started off OK. They got an early goal and we answered back pretty quickly,” coach Don Arnold said.

“After that — their speed and they were strong — they shot a couple on us and sucked the life out of us.”

Arnold praised Geiser for more than his goal.

“He’s constaly going 100%. He’s just relentless, just works and works and works,” he said.

Grafton was to host Port on Tuesday and Cedar Grove-Belgium on Thursday.

CG-Belgium goes 1-1-1 on the week

Down a goal at Ozaukee on Oct. 2, Matt Peterson set up Andrew Corgiat to even the score for Cedar Grove-Belgium, which is how the game would end.

“It was a tough result in which shots were heavily in our favor but we simply could not capitalize,” coach Elias Garza said.

Last Thursday, the Rockets got the offense going in a 6-2 win at Random Lake. Corgiat scored four times, and Clayton Kohl and Ethan Wonser each once.

“Offensively, the guys were finally able to provide good energy and movement,” Garza said.

Last Friday, the Rockets lost, 3-0, in a game resumed in the 11th minute due to bad weather earlier in the season.

The Rockets’s offense struggled in the first half and the team fell behind, 2-0.

The ability to possess the ball picked up in the second half, and the defense only allowed one more goal.

“I was pleased how the guys competed,” Garza said.

The Rockets were to host Howards Grove on Tuesday and play at Grafton on Thursday.