Okay, this will be a bit of a departure for me. I started this blog to chronicle Cooper’s final season as a Varsity soccer player and as well, I have always felt that soccer was a bit under represented in the local sports pages. So, what better way to accomplish both goals than to start a blog…..perfectly logical right. Well, it has been fun and I picked a pretty good season to blog, Memorial made it to State and almost had an epic season. It was quite a ride….still remember that 2-1 lead at halftime of the semi-finals.
So I figured what the heck, let’s keep this thing going and blog about the Memorial Girls soccer season as well. I have been fortunate to coach some girls who will be Freshman this year and had the chance to watch some of their games over the past few years supporting players and friends of the family. Hoping I can catch lightning in a bottle and blog another season that leads to a State tournament birth. It could happen!
Lets start with a little recap and some highlights from last season.
2017 Season Recap
Record: 21-4-1. Impressive, only 4 losses on the season. Lets break that down a little and take a deeper dive.
1st Loss is to Whitefish Bay 0-3. Whitefish Bay was ranked #1 in Division II and went on to win the Div. II State Championship. Wow.
2nd Loss is to Arrowhead 0-1. Arrowhead who during the season last year was ranked #1 in Div. I. Very difficult team.
3rd Loss is to Notre Dame Academy. NDA was ranked #2 in Div. II during the year. Holy cow, another top 5 team.
Loss #4 is to Bayport in Sectional Finals…in OT 2-3. Bayport was ranked #4 in Div. I and made it to the state finals where they lost to Brookfield Central in the State Finals.
Memorial had a great year, winning 21 games with all 4 losses to really high quality teams including two teams that played for State Titles. What a schedule outside of their conference! During the season they had winning streaks of 4 games, 11 games and then 5 games. They finished an undefeated Conference Schedule. At one point during the season they rose to being ranked #6 in the State Coaches Poll. They almost made their 10th appearance at the State Tournament making them one of the Top programs in the state. More to follow on that in a later post.
Scoring: Memorial scored 121 goals and their defense only gave up 24 goals, less than 1 goal per game. Impressive defensive statistic. They had 13 shut outs in 26 games. Man, I love a team that plays defense and obviously, Memorial was really solid on D last year.
2018 Season Preview
So what will 2018 hold for the Old Abes. Well, I will need a little more time to evaluate the roster, but here are a few thoughts.
-A new GK will be in the play. Grace Frank held that spot down for the past few years and really commanded a presence in net. She will be missed and it will be crucial to have strong GK play to go deep again in 2018.
-Will the defense be as strong. I think a few graduations, but it also feels like a bunch of returning starters with a few solid new players to fill in for the graduating seniors. The 3-5-2 formation needs some strong wing play to help cover the defense and I think there are solid players to fill that role as well. Looking forward to watching them play and checking out the rotations.
-Will they score goals. Well, on this front, I think we can safely say yes. They return the likely Conference Player of the Year in Abigail Stow…a goal scoring machine. Having watched some indoor games, there seem to be lots of additional firepower on offense and solid midfield play to feed the forwards. Should be exciting to watch them this year.
Preseason Rankings
Division I
1. Arrowhead 2. DHSA 3. Muskego 4. Bay Port (ugh!) 5. Neenah
6. EC Memorial 7. Middleton 8. DC Everest 9. Oconomowac 10. Madison West
Well, get ready for another tough schedule. Included in this years non-conference schedule are the following games. Arowhead (1), DHSA (2) and DC Everest (8). Another loaded schedule! As well, they have scheduled Notre Dame (#2 Div III) and Brookfield East (#7 Div. II). That is 5 Top 10 teams in their schedule. Wow!
The season starts today actually, as Memorial travels up to Superior to play on the turf in some chilly Lake Superior weather. Look forward to report some updates tomorrow. Plan to get to as many games as possible and provide game updates and recap including video. It feels like it could be another special year. Solid in Goal, big/fast and aggressive on defense and with a special player on offense to take them deep. In all my years watching high school soccer, one thing I have found…you need at least one special player to go deep at State. Could be interesting this year. Hope they play hard, develop team chemistry and have a great season. Let’s go Abes!
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