Tuesday, September 10, 2024
By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
DE PERE—The De Pere girls’ soccer team scored three goals during a 10-minute span of the second half to post a 3-0 victory over West De Pere, April 8, in a game played at West De Pere High School.
“We did a great job of pressing them,” said De Pere head coach, Andy Steger. “I thought we created much better opportunities in the second half and were fortunate with a couple long kicks that found the net.”
Dalaney Steger made 6 saves in net for the Redbirds while Zoe Cambray stopped 15 shots for West De Pere.
After a 40-minute delay due to lightning, both teams found it difficult in the early going to generate any momentum.
Finally, in the 19th minute, De Pere'sTaylor Witteck streaked down the right half of the field and found teammate Hannah Zastrow, who narrowly missed an opportunity.
Later on in the first half, Redbirds Alexis Cartier sent a skidder in on Cambray, but she was up for the test and the score remained 0-0 at intermission.
“I thought defensively we made some great plays on their attackers in the first half,” said West De Pere head coach Matt Ganzen. “However, our energy was a bit off on the offensive end, and it showed with not having many shots on goal in those first 45 minutes.”
Just 8 minutes into the second half, De Pere struck in a most unconventional way.
Midfielder Lorenza Duranceau took a pass from 35 yards out in the middle of the field, and then laced a curving shot into the right half of the net to give the Redbirds a 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later, Witteck made West De Pere pay with a breakaway flick past Cambray to extend the De Pere lead to 2-0.
“Sophie Hubbard really stood out by controlling the middle of the field and getting the ball to our scorers today,” added Steger. “She plays with a lot of passion every time she takes the field.”
The bleeding didn’t stop there for the Phantoms, as De Pere added a third goal with 28 minutes left in the game after defenseman Abby Nystrom booted in a shot from 45 yards out after she was awarded a free kick for a Phantoms foul. The ball skipped off the wet turf and went over Cambray’s head and into the goal.
The Phantoms had one final chance in the closing minutes to notch a goal, but Adriana Ponozzo’s shot flew just wide of the Redbirds' net.
“We have to shore up some things,” Steger said. "However, it’s a step in the right direction against a very well coached and good West De Pere team. This hopefully will prepare us for the FRCC challenges that await us.”
