Xavier girls soccer coach John Meyer summed it up pretty simply about the task in front of his team after the Hawks defeated Howards Grove 2-0 in the WIAA Division 4 sectional final June 13 at Rocky Bleier Field in Appleton.
“I’ve got two more pages in my scorebook,” Meyer said. “We want to make sure I put them to use.”
That’s a good way to look at it for top-seeded Xavier, which will face No. 4 seed Ozaukee/Random Lake (18-3-1) in a Division 4 state semifinal at 11 a.m. June 19 at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee.
Second-seeded The Prairie School (18-1-1) will take on No. 3 seed Aquinas (16-3) in the other semifinal at 1:30 p.m.
Xavier, which improved to 21-1 with the sectional final win to advance to WIAA state for the 13th time, has been impressive to say the least defensively.
The Hawks have allowed nine goals in those 22 games. Two of the goals came in the team’s only loss, a 2-1 decision to Appleton North in the regular-season finale.
There was also a string of seven consecutive shutouts by Xavier from April 16 through May 2.
The two words Meyer used to point to the success of the defense were attitude and seniors.
“Nobody wants to get scored on,” he said. “They don’t want to be the last person to be scored on when you’re a senior. It’s pretty important to continue that reputation that we’ve developed over the years.”
Senior defender Eva Stankewicz said the defense has been great this year.
“It starts with Abigail Anderson in goal and communication with us,” she said. “Then Annika [Heimann] and I at the center back positions have had the past four years together, so our communication is great.”
When an opposing team does get the opportunity on the attack in Xavier’s half of the field, a major problem for them is to find an open passing lane to get the ball in the box.
“That’s just repetition,” Stankewicz said. “So many games. So many practices. That and communication coming from both our goalie, coaches and defenders making sure that everyone is aware of what needs to be covered.”
Part of the success in Xavier’s defense is with 50/50 balls.
In a battle for a 50/50 ball, if the opponent does possess it and gets around the Xavier player, another Hawks player is within a few feet to make sure the opponent does not get an unfettered run with the ball or a good look at where they can pass the ball.
“It’s the way we’ve been coached,” Stankewicz said. “Pressure, cover, balance. Someone up. Someone back. If you need to move around to where you might not usually be, you get that position covered. Always be there.”
This group that is headed to the state tournament in Milwaukee to defend their title is an experienced group with 11 players finishing their soccer careers with Xavier this week.
But as with all teams, as one year’s seniors depart, a new group of freshmen, JV players and reserves who may not have seen a great deal of playing time need to be integrated into the team.
This year’s group of players that had to find their roles included six freshmen.
Sophomore Helayna Krueger, who scored both of Xavier’s goals in the sectional final and leads the team with 51 goals this season, said it starts with all the players being friends.
“We all get along,” she said. “We’re all faith-centered. We pray before our games. My mom gives holy water to the whole team. It makes everyone appreciate each other and appreciate God in how we play.”
Coach Meyer said integrating new players into the team starts with them all being daughters.
“You treat them all the way they need to be treated,” he said. “Sometimes they’re not happy about it, but here we are. We’re going to state. They understand that.”
Meyer also said if you watched his team warm up, you wouldn’t think this is a team playing for a state title this week.
“They are talking about everything but soccer,” Meyer said. “Once the game starts, these girls go. The switch goes on and they go.”
As for when the team takes the field for warm-ups for the state semifinals, Krueger is going in with confidence.
“After last year, we always expected this,” she said. “I just feel like we have to keep up our confidence and we can’t let each other down. We have to trust each other.”
Stankewicz said there is a bit of relief in going back to state.
“We’re so happy to be back and it’s great for a group of girls, especially the freshmen who get to experience this for the first time,” Stankewicz said. “There’s a certain level of expectations. We’ve been kind of dealing with that mentally. It’s going to be different where we were maybe underdogs last year as opposed to this year as returners.”
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Xavier soccer rolls toward title repeat by shutting down opponents
Reporting by Jim Oskola, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Oskola, Appleton Post-Crescent | USA TODAY Network
