Wildcats Win on Last Minute Goal

“What a nail biter,” exclaimed Samantha Adey, head coach of the University School girls lacrosse team, after Meredith Jeffers’ last-minute goal gave the Wildcats a come-from-behind 10-9 victory over the powerful Kettle Moraine team Friday afternoon at USM. 

“Meredith just had an outstanding game all over the field.  She played stellar defense and in those last four minutes, she really won that game for us,” continued Adey.

Kettle Moraine took complete control of the game in the first half of the first half.  Maddie Deabler and Allie Behrend, each scored a goal, and Kristen Layo scored two to give the Lasers a 4-0 lead at 11:57. 

Adey commented on the game’s beginning, “The first half was problematic for us; we just couldn't finish our shots; we couldn’t score.”

Katherine Engman finally scored USM’s first goal at 10:04 and Addie Lerner moved the Wildcats closer with a goal scoring shot at 9:12.  But Layo scored again for the Lasers at 8:28 to make it 5-2 in Kettle Moraine’s favor.

Jeffers added one to USM’s total and Autumn Smith scored for Kettle Moraine, and the half ended with Kettle Moraine ahead 6-3.

Quinn Sousa scored the first goal of the second half at 18:48 to give Kettle Moraine a 7-3 lead. 

The Wildcats then decided to change the game’s momentum.  “We turned it around in the second half and shut them down defensively; offensively we really turned it up,” said Adey.

Caroline Harper’s goal at 16:31 and Engman’s second goal of the game at 14:42 began the Wildcats’ come back. After Smith scored for Kettle Moraine, Jeffers scored again for USM at 12:34.  The score at the time was 8-6, and the Wildcats were worrying the Lasers.

There was no scoring for over six minutes as both teams tightened their defenses.  Then at 6:15 Jess Trinkl scored off a fine run and USM was within one.

Deabler scored for Kettle Moraine at 4:04.  It was the last goal the Lasers would get.

Adey noted that the USM defense played well against the powerful Lasers, “Defensively Giulia Ricca was outstanding, She shut down Autumn Smith, who was virtually removed from their offense.  We also had Margeaux Hagemann guarding KM's leading scorer, Allie Behrend, and she held Behrend to just one goal.  Our other defenders, Madeline Joerres and Riley Kelly also had great games defensively, sliding to double when needed and picking off passes.”

The defenders allowed USM’s scorers to work their magic.  Jeffers made the score 9-8 at 3:49. At 1:46, USM’s leading scorer, Kelly Brethauer, scored her first goal of the game, and the Wildcats had finally tied it.

That led to Jeffers’ dramatic goal with just 53 seconds left in the game to give USM its first lead of the game.  Adey said, “We perfectly executed a stall at the end of the game once we were up.  The players were very composed and didn't let KM back into the game.”  The team effort was successful.  USM won 10-9.

In the game Kettle Moraine’s goalie Olivia Haines made 15 saves. USM’s goalkeeper Ivy McKee made 5 saves.

USM is now 7-1.  The Wildcats have two away games on the horizon.  They play Brookfield at 5:00 p.m. Monday at Wisconsin Hills Middle School in Brookfield.  Tuesday they travel to Waukesha West High School for a 5:00 p.m. game against the Waukesha Co-op team.