The Hawks are one match away from a Bay Conference title.
The No. 2-seeded Shawano Community High School soccer team Tuesday secured a spot in the Bay Conference tournament championship match with a 2-0 win over No. 3 West De Pere in Shawano.
“The most important thing is we got the W,” Shawano forward Garret Schlise said. “We’re one step closer to getting that conference title.”
Top-seeded Hortonville beat No. 5 New London (4-5 Bay) 4-0 Tuesday in the other semifinal match, to set up a showdown Thursday in Hortonville with the Hawks.
Shawano lost to Hortonville (8-1 Bay) 3-1 Sept. 24 in Shawano.
Tuesday’s match with West De Pere (6-2-1 Bay) was a replay of Shawano’s regular season match against the Phantoms last week.
“It was the same game. We came out with the same amount of intensity,” Schlise said. “We knew if we came out with our intensity, we’re hard to beat.”
Shawano gave up a goal to the Bay Conference’s leading scorer, Osvaldo Ramirez, in last week’s game but held him in check Tuesday.
“It was pretty much the same game as last week,” Croschere said. “It played the same. We scored early, they just didn’t get the one in the middle.”
Michael Meisner, a senior goalie for Shawano, had a lot to do with that, earning the shutout with seven saves.
“It’s unbelievable what he can do out there,” Schlise said. “He played amazing tonight.”
Schlise put the Hawks on the scoreboard in the 11th minute off an assist from Chancellor VanDyck. Schlise navigated through a mess of defenders, then passed to VanDyck, who tapped it back. Schlise took a sniper shot from deep in front of the Phantom goal. West De Pere goalie Shawn Prokash was nowhere near as the ball sailed into the net.
“It’s always nice to see him get a goal,” Croschere said. “Going through that many defenders isn’t always a good thing, but he made it through, so it works.”
The second goal came with 16:19 left to play. Schlise assisted VanDyck, who put in a shot through traffic in front of the Phantom goal.
Prokash corralled five of Shawano’s shots.
Croschere said it is fitting that Shawano and Hortonville meet in the title match.
“They’re the No. 1 seed, we’re the No. 2 seed,” Croschere said. “This is the way it should happen. I guess we’ll get to that game and see what we do with it.”
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