By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
DE PERE—Bailey Baeten scored two goals and Emily Gorzlancyk added one as the West De Pere girls’ soccer team defeated Ashwaubenon, 3-0, April 5 at West De Pere High School.
“At halftime, we talked about injecting a little bit of speed,” said West De Pere head coach Matt Ganzen. “They (Ashwaubenon) were doing a great job of closing in on the net in the first 45 minutes. I thought we made some great runs in the second half and created a bunch of opportunities, and we capitalized on three of them.”
Much of the first 15 minutes was played in the Jaguars’ zone, with only the Phantoms getting a partial look in on goal.
Ashwaubenon got its first opportunity in the 17th minute when forward Gabby Langenhuizen sent in a shot from 20 yards out that was saved.
With the game still scoreless at the 40th minute mark, West De Pere had a golden opportunity go awry after Baeten hit the top crossbar with a shot and watched it squirt back down in front of the goal line.
Fortunately, for the Jaguars, Adamczak was there to make the save and halftime came with neither team getting on the scoreboard.
The Phantoms came out of the second half with a ton of energy as they created two looks in the first minute.
Then, in the 49th minute, Shannon Walsh sent a beautiful cross to Baeten who put the ball into the net to give West De Pere a 1-0 lead.
The game continued to get more physical as the game wore on with numerous free kicks being awarded to each team.
“We’re not in the same conference, but both teams know each other well,” added Ganzen. “There were a lot of battles met when the ball was up for grabs.”
A turning point in the game came in the 57th minute when the Jaguars missed an open net look.
Just 42 seconds later, the Phantoms were awarded a penalty kick after a Jaguars defender was called for a hand ball.
Gorzlancyk calmly found the left part of the net on the free kick, giving West De Pere a 2-0 lead with 32 minutes left in the contest.
In the 64th minute, the Phantoms scored the final goal of the evening when Baeten stuffed home a rebound.
“We’re still young, graduated a lot of seniors from last year,” Ganzen said about his program. “I thought Casey Jepson really stepped up in a position we call the libero. Not much got past her and the other defenders for the game. We have to keep learning and getting better game-to-game.”
Box score
Ashwaubenon: 0, 0—0
West De Pere: 0, 3—3
