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The Appleton East High School girls soccer team. (Photo courtesy of Andy Smith Photography)
Appleton East

First-half flurry pushes Kimberly past Appleton East girls soccer

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By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

KIMBERLY – If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best and the Appleton East girls soccer team was up against the best in Kimberly on Thursday at JR Gerritts Middle School.

Kimberly came into the game ranked No. 4 in the state and led the conference with a perfect 7-0 mark. The Patriots were ranked in the top 10 at one point as they began their season 9-0-1 overall.

Then came the past two weeks where East had lost four of their last five, including back to back 1-0 conference losses to Neenah and Appleton North. Looking to get back on track with the playoffs around the corner, East just wasn’t able to keep up with the high-powered Papermakers. Kimberly used a first-half onslaught to break the game wide open as they dominated the Patriots 8-1, clinching the FVA championship for the second year in a row.

Six of those goals came in the first half as this one was over almost as quickly as it began. Despite things being scoreless for the first several minutes, the Patriots struggled to possess the ball. That resulted in the game’s first goal as Emily McCarthy struck first to put the Papermakers on top for good 1-0.

It was her goal that appeared to open the flood gates as the Papermakers went on to score three more goals in the next five minutes to open a 4-0 lead before the 15-minute mark. Abby Lom accounted for the next two goals, which came less than three minutes apart, while Seneh Hanes made it 4-0 less than 10 minutes into the game.

After weathering the first-half storm, the Patriots defense began to settle in, but with a lack of consistent offensive possession, the pressure remained on Natalie Nielsen in goal, who did manage to come away with several big stops for East despite what the final line indicates. Kimberly eventually tacked on two more goals before the first half came to a close with Hanes adding her second along with Sonja Mau as the Patriots found themselves in a massive 6-0 hole after one half of play.

As if a six-goal deficit wasn’t bad enough, the Papermakers wasted no time getting things to 7-0 as Mau went unassisted for her second goal of the game to give the Papermakers three players with at least two goals.

It may have taken the Patriots 47 minutes to get on the board, but less than two minutes after falling behind 7-0, Appleton East finally broke through against Lauren Heckert, who finished the game with three saves on four shots. Maiya Wheaton picked up the lone goal of the night for the Patriots as she made it 7-1. That score would hold until the 74th minute when Hanes netted her third goal as the Patriots dropped their third straight conference game, falling to 10-4-1 overall and 5-3 in the FVA.

Appleton East will look to end their regular season on a high note against Kaukauna on Tuesday, before setting their sights on the postseason. WIAA brackets will be announced in the next week.

Papermakers 8, Patriots 1
Appleton East   0   1   –   1
Kimberly   6   2   –   8
First half: 1. K, McCarthy (Hanes), 4:26; 2. K, Lom (Hanes), 5:42, 3. K, Lom, 8:15; 4. K, Hanes, 9:19; 5. K, Hanes (Lom), 20:02; 6. K, Mau (Lom), 24:02.
Second half: 7. K, Mau, 45:17; 8. AE, Wheaton, 47:37; 9. K, Hanes (Lom), 74:49.
Records: Appleton East 10-4-1, 5-3 Fox Valley Association; Kimberly 16-2, 8-0 Fox Valley Association.