By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
DE PERE—The Green Bay Preble boys’ soccer team didn’t look like it missed a beat from 2018 when it advanced to Milwaukee and the semifinals of the state tournament.
Owen Brennan tallied three goals on opening night as the Hornets shut out the West De Pere Phantoms 6-0 in a game played August 27 at WDPHS.
“It definitely makes the game go a lot easier when your teammates are playing at the same level as you are,” said Brennan. “It was a good showing for our team with our movement and communication.”
If you were still in the parking lot at 6:30, you more than likely missed the first goal as forward Jackson Schaetz took a feed around the 17-yard mark and beat Phantoms goaltender Gabe Merline just 51 seconds into the game.
In the fourth minute, Preble was at it again.
This time Brennan was the recipient of a pass from Evan Vogel at the base of the left goal post. Brennan calmly booted home the open netter to give the Hornets an early 2-0 lead.
“We always work very hard and fast in practice,” said Chris Becker, Preble head coach. “We feel like our endurance really stands out not only in the first minute but in the final minute as well.”
Preble added two additional goals in the 11th minute by Brennan and Connor Dereene in the 43rd minute to go up 4-0 at halftime.
“They (Hornets) do a tremendous job of passing the ball and moving to the next spot,” said Tod Maki, West De Pere head coach. “We got beat in a number of 50-50 situations because our kids were a half step slow and they made us pay.”
After Preble scored just two minutes into the second half with a beautiful flick by Ramirez, it appeared they could reach double digits.
The Phantoms’ defenders, however, settled down and played even soccer until the final of the game when Brennan notched his hat-trick for the evening to give the Phantoms a six-goal advantage.
In the waning seconds, the Phantoms Julian Barajas got behind the Hornets defense but couldn’t get a clean look off.
The Hornets outshot the Phantoms 17-5 for the game.
“Every year our goal is to win conference, advance to state and then win state,” added Becker. “It feels good to knock the first one off.”
Box Score:
Green Bay Preble: 4,2—6
West De Pere: 0,0—0