Wildcats Win Another Field Hockey Contest

The varsity field hockey team continued its season-long undefeated streak by beating Brookfield Academy 4-0 in a Wisconsin High School Field Hockey Association game at USM Wednesday.

USM's senior goalkeeper Margeaux Hagemann recorded her 17th shutout of the season, but she did not really amend the constitution of the game. The USM defensive players, seniors Catie Downey, Emily Hendrickson, and Ali Robinson, junior Michelle Bal and sophomore Abby Wigdale prevented the Blue Knights from getting a single shot on goal. 

The Wildcats' offense meanwhile took off like Paul Revere on his ride. USM's head coach Tom Carter declared, “We played really well in the first five minutes. It was a great start. We scored in the first three minutes.”

The Wildcats scored that first goal when senior Billie Fritz passed the ball to sophomore Kendall Youngblood in the high circle. Youngblood pulled the ball deftly around a defender and fired a shot off the back of the BA goal that rang like the Liberty Bell at 28:50.

The Blue Knights probably felt like the British surrounded at Yorktown as USM's offense kept the ball in the BA end of the field for most of the first half. The Wildcats fired 15 shots at BA's senior goalie Emily Rauh in the first thirty minutes, but they did not score again until the last minute of the first half. Senior Lindsay Neitzel began the play by carrying the ball down the side. From outside the Blue Knights' D, Neitzel lined a pass to Youngblood who mustered a hard shot that Rauh stopped. But Fritz was moving in and she deflected the rebound past Rauh with 55 seconds left on the first half clock.

The game continued to resemble the Boston Massacre in the second half. The Wildcats put 11 more shots on goal and scored on two of them. The first came at 15:54. Youngblood got the ball near the edge of the circle and pushed it toward the cage. USM Senior Sally James got it down low and pushed it toward the post. The ball rolled past and almost went out of bounds, but Youngblood had raced in, and she touched the ball into the goal from the side.

The Wildcats finished their scoring with 3:05 left. Sophomore Catherine Jacobus self-started a long corner and ran the ball in. Before she could see the whites of Rauh's eyes, she fired an off angle shot. USM senior Jenna Seter finished the play by snapping the ball in.

In the game Rauh made 22 saves and Hagemann made zero saves.

USM's record is now 18-0-3. The Wildcats play again at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday when they take on Divine Savior Holy Angels' varsity reserve at the Uihlein Soccer Complex.