A No. 2 seed has Waupaca girls’ soccer coach Mark Polebitski optimistic about the upcoming state tournament.
Waupaca will host No. 7 Wautoma at 5 p.m. today (Thursday, June 2), with the winner to play No. 3 Northland Pines or No. 6 Clintonville for a WIAA Division 2 regional championship at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 5, at Appleton Xavier.
“The team is playing its best soccer of the season right now,” Polebitski said. “We were happy to receive a No. 2 seed this season. Our play later in the season cemented that spot and I feel good going into this year’s tournament. We are in good position.”
Waupaca closed out the regular season Thursday, May 26, with a 2-0 loss to Stevens Point and wrapped up Eastern Valley Conference play two days earlier with a 2-0 win over Winneconne.
Stevens Point 2, Waupaca 0
WAUPACA – Laura Yonke and Eden Willoughby scored unassisted goals for the Panthers.
Yonke’s goal came 15 minutes into the contest. The ball rattled around in the penalty area until Yonke’s shot hit the crossbar and went in.
Willoughby won a ball just outside the penalty area midway through the second half and fired a shot from 20 yards out.
“We had a couple of good chances to score, but we were on our heels for some long stretches,” Polebitski said. “Our backs played tough defense and limited their ability to get off the really good shot.”
Waupaca 2, Winneconne 0
WAUPACA – Lizzie Hanke scored both of Waupaca’s goals off of assists from Kirsten Fehrman and Mikaila Johnson stopped all five of Winneconne’s shots.
Hanke’s first goal came in the final minute of the first half. Fehrman served a corner kick up to Hanke, who headed it in for the game-winning goal. Another Fehrman corner kick set up Hanke’s second goal 16 minutes into the second half.
“Fehrman served up three really nice corners tonight and Lizzie finished strong on two of those chances,” Polebitski said. “We played solid soccer tonight for 80 minutes on both sides of the ball.”