Thoughts and observations from the spring season

Like other sports seasons, this spring brought about some spectacular play. Here are some of the unique elements that stood out.

World Cup-soccer worthy

Having one player earn all-state honors is noteworthy. Our area had four honorable mentions, evenly split among our teams.

Only 85 players earn all-state honors from the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association, which isn’t that many when you figure there were 267 soccer teams with 11 starters each.

The scary part for our local teams is all four were underclassmen.

Ozaukee sophomore Mya Schroeder led Random Lake/Ozaukee to a Big East Conference title  and a second straight berth at state. She was among the state’s leaders in goals with 52 and points with 117. She also had 13 assists.

This was Schroeder’s first year with the squad since she played club in 2025.

It was a similar story for Grafton’s Katelyn Valenta, who played with the Black Hawks as a freshman, then club as a sophomore. She returned this year and quickly became their go-to striker and the one every defense tried to scheme against.

Valenta managed 22 goals and six assists as the Hawks went down to the final week of the season with a chance to win the brutal North Shore Conference.

Cedar Grove-Belgium  junior Arden Getschman scored 34 goals, had 24 assists and 92 points, earning Big East Conference Offensive Player of the Year. Voting was held when she was in the scoring lead, hence the edge over Schroeder.

Getschman stepped up one year after the state’s leading scorer in history, Cora Erickson, graduated.

Port Washington sophomore Kamryn Knaub already asserted herself as a top keeper as a freshman. Now, she got all-state honors.

Knaub made 106 saves on 124 shots, for an 85.5 save percentage. Some of the highlight-reel saves came against rival Grafton, which put on a second-half barrage but was turned away by Knaub in a 1-0 Port victory.

The end of an era

Cedar Grove-Belgium’s run of six straight Big East conference titles and eight straight regional titles came to a close, the former courtesy of a rival and the second due to a high-quality New Berlin Eisenhower team.

That run included a state championship in 2024 — the first girls’ team title in any sport in school history — and state runner-up finishes in 2018, 2021 and 2023.

Many of this year’s seniors played key roles on the two latest medal-winning squads and most battled injuries for much of the season that made the Rockets more vulnerable. Regardless, they will remember the program forever.

“It’s meant everything. These girls, this team, we’ve been through so much together — state during freshman and sophomore years, the sectional final junior year,” Aubrey Johnson said.

Excursions to the Tournament of Champions in Bettendorf, Iowa, will stick with Mia Grisolono.

“The soccer program has given me some of my best friends and greatest memories. Our trips to the Iowa tournament is easily the best weekend of the school year, and it has given me memories I will cherish forever,” she said.

Kami Horn said of the program, “It’s everything. It’s become my life. It’s just super important to me.”

It was the same for Gracie Schmidt, another star who could have gotten all-state consideration after scoring 35 goals with 21 assists for 91 points.

“This program has meant everything to me, just the state championship and all the friendships I’ve made through it and that I still have with it,” Schmidt said. “It just means everything and I’ve truly grown as a person.”

Riley Albinger said the program has meant “Everything. I love this sport with my whole heart. It’s been such an honor to play on this team and make so many friends and just learn so much from the sport.”

A start and finish to remember

Grafton senior Emily Sewell and junior Abby Barthelemy started the year by winning silver medals with the volleyball team. They closed by winning a silver in the 1,600-meter relay and bronze in the 3,200 relay at the state track meet.

Grafton’s Max Glab, DJ James, Hunter Klippel and Seva Belousov all won gold medals with the football team in fall. They ended the year with gold by winning the 800 relay.

The Schmitzes know how to close

In 2024, Tara Schmitz ended her decorated multi-sport athletic career with a gold medal in soccer for Cedar Grove-Belgium.

Not to be outdone, younger brother Carter closed his similar award-winning prep career by taking home gold with the baseball team in June.