By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON-Despite having only one win on the year, the pieces were there for the Ashwaubenon Jaguars girls’ soccer team to win a regional championship.
The Marshfield Tigers had other plans, however, as they defeated the Jaguars by a final of 5-2 on a cool, windy day at Goelz Field (June 2).
Earlier in the season, the teams had played to a 2-2 tie.
This go around, the Jaguars struck just one minute and forty seconds into the game when forward Haley Ehmke found a pass from teammate Lydia Schaible and knocked home the first goal.
It was short lived, though, as the Tigers speed started to take effect.
First team all-conference selection Nina Hashimoto tied the game at one apiece in the sixth minute when she connected on a curving shot from 30 yards out.
Just seconds earlier, Tigers forward Kate Schilling had saved the ball from going out of bounds to deliver the assist.
Then, in the ninth minute, Hashimoto took a pass from Courtney Miller off a corner kick and knocked home her second goal of the game to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead with over 30 minutes still left till the break.
Undeterred, the Jaguars played much of the next seven to eight minutes peppering the Tigers net.
Tigers goalie Mikayla Brueggen made sure none got past her during that sequence preserving the visitors one goal lead.
With just under 13 minutes remaining to the half, the Jaguars were awarded a corner kick.
The ball was beautifully placed in front of the net, but no one could get a clean shot away, and the Tigers took a 2-1 lead into intermission.
“We played really good soccer to start,” said Rick Kremer, Jaguars Soccer Coach. “Then we let their forwards loose into the open field, and they got two quick goals to change the momentum back in their favor.”
The Jaguars dodged a bullet in the first few minutes of the second half when Schilling hit the cross bar on an attempt from the right hash of the field.
Jaguars goaltender Sela Kreiling made three key saves in the next fifteen saves, and defenders Tahlia Micoley and Addison Stromberg kept the ball to the sidelines to alleviate the Tigers midfielders from getting out in transition.
With just 23 minutes left in the game, and the margin still one for the Tigers they ended the Jaguars hopes with two goals within a 69 second time frame.
The Jaguars had pressed forward in the hopes of getting a tying goal and it left the back susceptible.
Nicole Simon booted the first one home, and Hashimoto remarkably added her third of the game (hat-trick) to put the Tigers up 4-1.
The Jaguars showed resilience by continually sending Erica Conrad, Ehmke, Norah Kinsman, and Schaible to the goal.
It paid off with just under four minutes left in the game.
Conrad found an opening on the left sidelines, made a few nifty moves, and got tripped in the restricted area setting up a penalty kick.
Schaible took the free kick and calmly kicked it into the gap on the left side to cut the margin to 4-2.
Hashimoto added a forth and final goal with just under a minute left to provide the final margin.
The Jaguars finish at 1-10-5 for the season.
“It was a strange season in that we had our first eight games cancelled due to the snowstorm,” added Kremer. “ We fought hard during the season and were short-handed many times in the backfield and at goal. However, we have only two seniors and a bunch of sophomores and juniors to built upon for next season.”
Box Score
Ashwaubenon 1, 1 2
Marshfield 2, 3 5
