We have passed the midway point in May, and the final surge for WIAA playoff seeding and conference titles is underway for Milwaukee-area girls soccer programs.
Seeding meetings for the playoffs are to be held May 24, making this the final week for teams to make their case by picking up quality wins. Arrowhead vaults to the top of our area rankings with a decisive 2-0 victory over Divine Savior Holy Angels this past week. Muskego, meanwhile, picked up its first loss of the season to Verona to fall to No. 2. Wauwatosa East rose from others considered last week all the way to No. 6 with a win over Germantown. Brookfield East and Pewaukee are also risers who played to a draw this past week. New Berlin Eisenhower knocked off Waukesha West to take its place in the top 10. Milwaukee Reagan (10-6-1) is out of others considered this week after being swept in three games, as it is replaced by Milwaukee King/Juneau.
Here are our final girls soccer rankings of the regular season, team of the week and matchups to watch ahead of the start of the WIAA postseason. Look for more WIAA postseason preview coverage ahead of the start of regional play June 2.
AREA RANKINGS
*Records as reported to Bound through May 16
Team (W-L-T), last week
Others considered: Brookfield Central (7-2-0), Catholic Memorial (5-4-3), Grafton (9-2-0), Greendale (5-1-4), Kenosha Tremper (9-2-1), Milwaukee King/Juneau (11-3-0), Milwaukee Riverside/Golda Meir (8-1-1), New Berlin West (7-3-1), Racine Park (10-2-1), Waukesha West (10-4-2).
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Racine Park
The Panthers remain just outside our extremely competitive top-10 slots this week, but picked up a big win over a conference rival amid a 2-0 week to earn team of the week in our final rankings of the season. Junior Mayah Skenandore scored a hat trick in a 3-1 win over Kenosha Tremper on May 12, handing the Trojans their first Southeast Conference loss on the season. The win for Park moved it to 4-0-1 in the SEC entering the week, giving the Panthers the inside track on the conference title with one league game remaining against Kenosha Indian Trail (2-1-2) on May 26.
The week’s action concluded May 14 with a 9-0 win over Augustine Prep in which Skenandore had two goals and two assists. Junior Addison Betker matched that stat line with two goals and two assisted scores as well, while fellow junior Mimi Wentorf had two goals. Senior Laylanna Cruz, sophomore Caitlin Klimek and junior Nicole Martinez added a goal each.
COMING UP
Catholic Memorial at Brookfield East, 7 p.m. May 21: Our area No. 3 this week hosts reigning D3 state champion Catholic Memorial as CMH looks for a competitive showing to boost its seeding consideration.
Kettle Moraine at Pewaukee, 11 a.m. May 23: KM (5-2-4) is looking for a bounce-back win over a top opponent after falling to Brookfield East last week, while Pewaukee is hoping to avoid a letdown coming off a likely conference title-clinching game May 20 against Greendale.
Wauwatosa East at Divine Savior Holy Angels, 11 a.m. May 23: Our area No. 6 team travels to No. 5 in another high-stakes game for DSHA as two likely postseason contenders meet in a playoff-caliber matchup.
This story was updated to accurately reflect the kick-off time of Wauwatosa East at DSHA.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Arrowhead leads final area soccer rankings ahead of WIAA postseason
Reporting by Zac Bellman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
