By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
SUAMICO — Five days ago, June 3, the Bay Port girls’ soccer team defeated Green Bay Preble by five goals.
The second go-around was no easy task for the No. 4 Pirates, as they scored two second-half goals to defeat the No. 5 Hornets 2-0 in a WIAA Division 1 regional game June 8 at Bay Port High School.
“We knew they had an offensive threat in Ivory Donald,” Brooke Mraz, Bay Port head coach said. “They pushed the tempo in the first half. Finally, the balls which were around the net went for us in the second half.”
Preble appeared to have two breakaway plays in the first 15 minutes, but they were whistled for offsides on both plays.
In the 19th minute, Bay Port midfielder Mara Gustafson made a couple of moves around the 35-yard mark and got a shot on goal, which Hornet’s goalkeeper Sumedha Hill saved.
Minutes later, the game was stopped for excessive heat so both teams could hydrate before game action was resumed.
Each team got a decent look down the stretch, but the game remained scoreless at halftime.
“We talked at intermission about sticking to the formation we’ve created,” Mraz said. “We were building up to play defensively, and we held their forwards to only a few shots. We knew our time would come.”
After a near-miss by Donald to open the second half for Preble, Bay Port finally notched the first goal of the game in the 62nd minute after Madi Noe found the net off a Mallory Herber corner kick.
“We applied the pressure to Preble to start the second 45 minutes,” Mraz said. “We had many opportunities. It was nice to see Madi finish and get the first goal.”
Seven minutes later, the Pirates were back at it.
This time, Herber beat her defender and kicked a laser in from 28 yards out for a 2-0 lead with about 20 minutes remaining.
In the final 10 minutes, tempers boiled over as a Pirates player hit the turf after being shoved down.
Bay Port advanced to take on No. 1 Kimberly June 12.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Mraz said. “They have a strong core group. It was a two-goal victory for us the first time, but each team had multiple chances. It should be a tight matchup come the weekend.”
Box score:
Green Bay Preble: 0, 0 — 0
Bay Port: 0, 2 — 2