By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
GREEN BAY-The Green Bay Preble Hornets broke a close game wide open in the second half to allow them to go onto capture a 3-0 victory over the West De Pere Phantoms in boys soccer. (Aug.21)
Brian Martinez, Luke Sundling, and Henry Starks each scored a goal for the Hornets.
Evan Rinke made 17 saves in goal for the Phantoms.
Early on in the game, the Hornets Sundling sent a ball in on goal. Rinke moved forward from the goal and made a tremendous diving save.
The Phantoms received their good first chance to tally a goal in the 24th minute.
Parker Nimmer corralled the ball off of a Calvin Battle throw in. He danced around a couple of defenders and sent a 25-yard left footed shot in that curved right but unfortunately hit the goalpost and went out of bounds.
Up to that point, only one other shot on goal had been registered for the Phantoms.
Two minutes later, in the 26th minute, the Hornets struck for the first goal of the evening.
Martinez took a pass from Owen Brennan and sent a low shot in that got past Rinke.
With the Hornets still leading 1-0, the Phantoms were awarded a free kick with just 12 minutes remaining till the half.
Sawyer Grovegal sent the ball in the air for 60 yards. However, no Phantoms forward could get to the ball in time.
Just before half, the Hornets Sergio Garcia (not the PGA golfer) hit the crossbar from 10 yards out.
West De Pere got out of the half unscathed and only trailed by one goal against the mighty Hornets.
“Parker (Nimmer) got a couple of looks in the first half,” said Tod Maki, West De Pere Soccer Coach. “On that one play, he did a fantastic job individually to create some space for his shot.”
In the 54th minute, the Phantoms had possession deep in the Hornets end.
Forward Alex Woulf took a pass from Abram McGrath and tried to go in on goal. It appeared he was held, but no call was made by the center official.
Then with just 29 minutes remaining in the contest, the Hornets took control of the game.
First, Sundling tallied a goal, and then just three minutes later Starks added a third goal for Green Bay Preble as they went up 3-0.
During the sequence, the Phantoms couldn’t contain the high-octane midfielders for the Hornets.
The Phantoms had two more opportunities to cut into the margin.
The first was by Garrett Schneider in which he broke free of the Hornets goaltender.
His shot went in on goal but was redirected out of bounds off the head of a Hornets defensemen.
The second was a blast by Nimmer late in the game that went high over the crossbar.
“I thought if Garrett could have gotten that goal in the second half it would have given us a huge boost of confidence,” Maki said. “I thought we had the goal and it took one of those funny bounces. He (Garrett) had a super game today.”
The last 15 minutes were played on even ground and the Hornets went onto capture the non-conference matchup.
“I thought our defense did a tremendous job for the first 60 minutes,” said Maki. “Preble is a great soccer team, and our kids fought hard. It was a much better result than in 2017.”
The Phantoms fall to 0-1 overall.
Box Score:
Green Bay Preble 1, 2 3
West De Pere 0, 0 0
