Redbirds defeat Jaguars with three early goals

By Murray Gleffe

Correspondent

ASHWAUBENON - The De Pere girls’ soccer team scored three goals in the first 30 minutes to defeat Ashwaubenon 3-0 in a Fox River Classic Conference game May 9 at Goelz Field.

“We got off to a very fast start,” said De Pere head coach Andy Steger. “I was also proud of our back-line in that we gave Ashwaubenon very few shots on goal.”

Just 14 minutes into the game, senior forward McKayla Zastrow struck first for the Redbirds.

A corner kick turned into a give-and-go that Sophie Hubbard sent in to Zastrow, who finished it off.

Just a minute later, Taylor Witteck went down the right half of the field and punched in a goal past Jaguars goalie Sela Kreiling to give De Pere an early 2-0 lead.

“Our coaches told us to play with high energy and to pressure the offensive side of things,” said Witteck. “We left a few balls go long off the wet turf, but then we got going with a lot of looks on goal.”

Witteck knocked home a third goal for the Redbirds for a 3-0 lead.

“We let a couple of their better players get out in the open field, and they made us pay early,” said Ashwaubenon head coach Rick Kramer. “Unfortunately for us, our touches beyond midfield were limited in the first half.”

Jaguars No. 8 Remi Ann Lade bringing the ball downfield being defended by Redbirds No. 20 Alexis Piette. 

De Pere took a 3-0 lead into intermission while out-shooting Ashwaubenon 12-1.

Both teams came out with a defensive mentality to start half number two with looks inside 20 yards very scarce.

In the 60th minute, Kreiling made the save of the night after Witteck was all alone in front of the net.

Kreiling punched the ball out of play after diving to the ground to keep the Redbirds from notching another.

Gabby Langenhuizen and Erica Conrad managed to get a couple looks in the game’s final three minutes but were unable to capitalize, as goalie Dalaney Steger and the Redbirds preserved the shutout.

“We need to keep putting pressure on teams and learn how to finish teams off,” added Steger. “Give credit to Ashwaubenon’s defense in the second half with (Bachmeier and Stromberg) keeping the ball out of the net for them. The regular season is coming to a close here shortly, and we have to play a full 90 minutes every time we take the field.”

Box score

De Pere: 3, 0—3

Ashwaubenon: 0, 0—0