By Greg Bates
SPORTS EDITOR
MILWAUKEE – The third time was not the charm.
The Notre Dame Academy boys’ soccer team played in its third straight WIAA Division 3 state championship game. But for the third straight season, the Tritons took home a silver ball.
Notre Dame’s players’ dream of winning a state title was shattered when it gave up a first-half goal followed by a player getting a red card, forcing the Tritons to be a man down for the final 54 minutes of the game.
No. 2-seeded New Berlin Eisenhower only needed the one goal as its defense held off top-ranked and top-seeded Notre Dame 1-0 at Uihlein Soccer Park on Saturday night.
“It’s frustrating,” Notre Dame coach Michael Prudisch said about the loss. “You need a lot of things to go right to win a gold ball and unfortunately we just ran out of things going right.”
The only goal of the game came when New Berlin Eisenhower (16-4-3) had a long pass off a free kick from midfield and Jack Bretzmann got the ball inside the box and scored at the 15:21 mark.
The main talk after the game centered around Notre Dame senior Fawzi AbuJamra, who was whistled for a red card after an exchange with a New Berlin Eisenhower player at 25:15.
“Unfortunately, it’s always the second guy that gets caught,” Prudisch said. “The guy that got the red, there was a racial slur made at him and obviously he got heated about it. That particular player was trying to play for fouls. He was flopping left and right and unfortunately our player said a swear word, and apparently the referee thought that was enough to warrant a red card, which is the first time I’ve ever heard that. If there was a red card for every time a player swore out there, there wouldn’t be any players out there. I’m not going to get too much into that, but to let a state championship and a whole season fall to a curse word on the field is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.
“But outside of that, we didn’t take care of business in the first half. We got the wind and wanted to score right away, score early and often, but unfortunately, we didn’t make that happen. Then the red card occurred and then it was an uphill battle from there.”
Notre Dame star Emmett Lawton was near the action when the red card was assessed.
“There was some confusion,” Lawton said. “Our guy said something to one of the players on the other team, the ref thought it was directed at him and the red card came out, which I’ve never seen before. I’m sure it’s in there somewhere in the rulebook. But it is what it is and you’ve got to deal with it.”
Notre Dame was already without its starting center back for the game after senior Elliot Bordini was called for a red card in the Tritons’ 2-1 victory in a state semifinal on Friday. Bordini had to sit out the state title game due to his infraction.
Losing AbuJamra, another center back, was a hit to Notre Dame as it played with just nine position players against New Berlin Eisenhower’s 10.
After AbuJamra left the game, the Notre Dame players rallied and kicked it into another gear.
“The red card kind of completely eliminated our gameplan, so once you get to that point, you have be either tied or up one, because the whole game revolves around not conceding a goal, which they did,” Lawton said. “We won in that aspect and I’m proud of my teammates. They sprinted every step and they won’t regret any of their steps and whatnot through the game. So, we did what we could and I’m proud of it.”
Notre Dame goalie Arturo Ottum-Cortez made a save on the free kick following the red card.
With under three minutes remaining in the opening half, Notre Dame’s Thomas Geocaris put a shot off the top crossbar.
In the second half, Notre Dame got plenty of opportunities to tie the score. Perhaps the best chance was at 51:15 when Michael Kussow put a shot on net that was saved, but a big rebound came out to Ian Noble, who missed a mostly open net.
The Tritons (19-1-4) had to press the issue in the second half.
“We knew we had to go for it being a man down,” Prudisch said. “We adjusted our formation and then we knew they were going to pack it in and defend. We got a few opportunities, unfortunately, just couldn’t get it in the back of the net. It’s tough when you’re playing down a man and they’re packing it in and you’re going against the wind. There’s too many things going against us there in the second half to get the equalizer. It’s an unfortunate way it all panned out and a season how good as it was comes down to a combination of the weather and some questionable officiating.”
Notre Dame finished with 10 shots — five by Lawton — as New Berlin Eisenhower had seven shots.
“We possessed really well,” said Kussow, who is a junior. “We came together as a team and we played the game we always play together. Sadly, we were a man down, we couldn’t make it happen.”
There was plenty of frustration, disappointment and tears following Notre Dame’s only loss of the season.
But once the players get a chance to reflect on the season, Prudisch is hoping his guys can remember how special it was.
“They still made history this season,” Prudisch said. “There’s still a lot to be proud of — going undefeated in the regular season for the first time in school history. I’m pretty sure from a winning percentage it’s the best season in school history. A lot to be proud of. Maybe the whole season’s
defined by getting a gold ball or not, but the bottom line is we played our hearts out and we stuck together all season long.”
Lawton took the loss in stride knowing he and his teammates played hard the entire game.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t lose in the first round of the playoffs, we made it to the state finals, which most people don’t get to do at all in their life,” Lawton said. “Got to appreciate that. Got to appreciate a great group of dudes that I got to do it with. Our class since JV was kind of our goal to set that winning standard at Notre Dame or build on it or accelerate it.”
This year’s senior class is a special one. It featured 11 players — five who mainly started — who made it to three straight state title games.
“They definitely have big shoes to fill, but they’ve set the standard as to what Triton soccer is,” Prudisch said. “The seniors before them did the same thing, our guys stepped up because we set that standard awfully high and the same thing’s going to happen next year. We’re going to have some guys to replace, but we’re going to have guys step up and hopefully we’ll make another run at it next year.”