Posted: March 2, 2010 |(0) Comments

University School hockey

The red-hot Wildcats will have entries in both the boys and girls WIAA State tournaments this weekend.

USM's boys have been unbeaten in their last 13 games (15-7-3) and will challenge Stoughton (24-1) in a 5 p.m. WIAA state quarterfinal game on Thursday at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison. This is USM's ninth state trip and seventh in the last nine years.

They advanced to state with a dominating 7-1 victory over Cedarburg in the sectional final Saturday. Leading the Wildcats will be senior forward Alex Tesensky (28 goals and 29 assists) and junior forwards Simon Leahy (26 and 18) and Aaron Storch (eight and 22).

Senior Dan Smycek has been rock-solid in goal with a 2.39 goals against average.

Semifinals will be at 5 p.m. Friday with the championship slated for 7 p.m. Saturday.

The USM girls co-op (19-6-2) are making their first trip to state and will challenge the River Falls co-op (22-4-1) in a 1:15 p.m. semifinal on Friday at the Coliseum. The other semifinal pits Mosinee (24-2) against Green Bay (23-4).

The championship game will be played at 12:10 p.m. Saturday.

USM has some 10 players from either Homestead, Nicolet, Whitefish Bay and Shorewood on the team. They beat Sun Prairie, 4-1, on Friday night in the sectional championship game.

Sophomore forward Megan Bailey of Homestead scored two goals and freshman defender Laine Tomesch of Nicolet had one assist. The goaltender is freshman Emily Wigdale of USM, who has a 1.4 goals-against average on the season.

Nicolet gymnastics

A game effort was not quite enough against a rapidly improving Homestead squad, as the Knights came up a place short of a WIAA state team berth, finishing third in the Arrowhead sectional Saturday.

"We tried the best that we could," said Knights coach Christine Dempsey. "We would have loved to have gone, but sometimes things are what they are."

The Knights, who were third at state last season, still advanced Leah Fischer in the all-around and in floor exercise and Jessie Kloehn in floor exercise to state individual competition in Wisconsin Rapids on Friday at 5:40 p.m. at the Wisconsin Rapids field house.

Nicolet scored 140.225 points in the nine-school sectional as defending state champion Arrowhead won with 143.725 and Homestead earned the second state team berth with a 140.7 mark.

"We did pretty well on bars and vault, the best that we could," said Dempsey, "but beam wasn't as good as it could have been. There were points in the meet that we could have pulled it together."

The senior Fischer earned her all-around spot with a fifth-place score of 35.95 and tied for fifth in floor exercise with a 9.15 score. Kloehn, just a freshman, earned her spot with a third in floor (9.25).

Nicolet narrowly missed out on some other individual spots, as Alicia Berroug (8.95) and Ariel Zangwill (8.925) were seventh and eighth, respectively, on vault and Fischer was sixth on beam (9.175).

Nicolet wrestling

Bobby Herrick carried the banner high for the Knights at the state individual tournament last weekend in Madison, but the game 140-pound senior lost two tough matches in his Kohl Center debut.

"The kid he lost to in the first round (from Oconomowoc) wound up taking sixth, so there's no shame in that," said Knights coach Gus Kaufmann. "To make a long story short, he had a great season and showed others the way there. We had a bunch of kids come along with us to watch and hopefully that'll motivate them - show them that state is attainable."

Herrick (29-16) lost to Jake Morrison of Oconomowoc (31-8) by a 9-0 count and then fell in his wrestleback, 9-6, in an exciting match to Alex Amann (32-6) of Racine Horlick.

His state participation closed out a lively year for the Knights, as they proved to be a good tournament team (third in three events including the North Shore test) and were competitive on many other levels.

"We didn't have a good dual meet season, but we showed that we could compete with people, and we have a bunch of guys returning who are looking to qualify for state themselves. We're getting closer and closer to becoming competitive with the big boys."

Herrick, who despite a number of injuries over the years, never missed a practice in four years will lead a good senior group including Ethan and Tamir Klein and Trevor Cole.

"We've shown that hard work and dedication does pay off," said Kaufmann.

Whitefish Bay wrestling

It was going to be a hard road for Blue Dukes 189-pound wrestler Jake Beckert to get anything done at the WIAA State Individual Tournament last weekend in Madison.

Mainly because Beckert didn't weigh anything close to 189 pounds.

"He was an underweight kid (about 164 pounds) in a bracket full of giants," said Blue Dukes coach Dale Loebel. "It was very difficult for him to try and get anything done."

So it was no surprise that Beckert (31-12) lost two technical falls to eventual third-place finisher Tremayne Williams of Appleton North (33-3) and to Ryan Ross of Racine Case (35-10) in his state debut.

"But we did the right thing (bumping him up a class for the state series)," said Loebel. "Guys out of sectional did great at 160 and 171 and a lot of our other guys saw that. They came up to watch, and they needed to see that.

"It didn't really matter how he wrestled, but that he got there. They now know what it takes to get there (to state)."

Beckert's participation closed out a stellar season for the rising Blue Dukes program. They finished with a winning record in North Shore duals and were competitive in a great many other events.

"Our philosophy is that 'It's possible until its not,' " said Loebel. "This was good for both us and Nicolet (which also got a state qualifier). It shows what we're doing is working."

Beckert, who will go to Madison with the idea of becoming a history professor, leads a strong senior class that includes Luke Davey, Logan Schwenker and Dexter Scott.

Nicolet boys basketball

Christian Griggs-Williams hit a putback with two seconds left in the second overtime, as the Knights were able to close the regular season with a thrilling 57-55 decision over Cedarburg on Feb. 25.

"Going into the post-season with any momentum is a good thing," said Knights coach Paul Hepp. "We didn't want to finish on a three-game losing streak, so this gives us a little more bounce in our step."

The Knights finished with an 8-6 record in the North Shore (15-7 overall) and tied with Whitefish Bay, behind co-champs Germantown and Port Washington (10-4).

They hosted Pius XI in a WIAA regional semifinal on Tuesday (see separate article) and if they win, they will likely visit fourth-seeded Milwaukee South in a regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The regional champion heads to sectional play at the Al McGuire Center on March 11.

Cedarburg was a load all night for the Knights as all-state candidate forward Chip Rank had 20 points. The game was close throughout and was tied at 44 going into overtime.

The Bulldogs' David Shepherd hit his only basket of the game, a long 3-pointer at the buzzer of the first overtime to send the game into a second extra session.

Then Cedarburg took a four-point lead early in the second overtime before baskets by Tre Kinlow and Jarel James tied the score. Nicolet got a stop and a rebound and the Knights began the final sequence with 20 seconds to go.

James drove the lane, kicked it out to Kinlow for a short baseline shot. It was off the mark, but Griggs-Williams was there to clean up the mess and preserve the win.

James finished with 16 points to lead Nicolet while Myles Henry had 15 and Griggs-Williams chipped in with eight.

Homestead girls basketball

The Highlanders practice free throws a lot, but you couldn't tell that to coach Matt Heuser as he was watching his team clang its way to a one-of-eight effort in the fourth quarter while trying to protect a lead against Port Washington on Friday.

Fortunately for Homestead, the Pirates could not take advantage of the Highlanders last miss from the foul line in the final seconds as a last-second shot was off the mark that allowed Homestead to hold on for a 48-47 victory.

"Oh my, you have no idea how hard that was," Heuser said, of the awful seven for 25 effort from the line for the game. "We actually thought the game was over as they had rushed up (after a missed Homestead free throw) and threw something up. But it turned out they had called timeout with a second to go.

"They didn't get a real good look though, so there was some poetic justice to that."

The win improved the Highlanders to 6-15 overall. They will host Germantown (16-5) in their regular season closer at 7:30 p.m. Friday and then in another piece of poetic justice, will turn around and visit the Warhawks at 7 p.m. Tuesday for a WIAA regional semifinal.

The game with Port (2-18) was back and forth the whole way. The Highlanders had a huge advantage from the line as the Pirates only shot four of six from the stripe for the game.

Heuser credited Megan Geschke (14 points) for hitting some big shots and Siena Mitman (14) for her work on the boards. Hannah Young also added 12.

"The goal is always to make more free throws than the other team attempts and we did that by one, which was just enough," said Heuser.

Nicolet girls basketball

The Knights kept their foot firmly on the gas as they bolted to a 34-14 halftime lead against Milwaukee Lutheran on Friday and coasted to a 53-25 win.

Then the real good news game a couple of days later, when the Knights (18-1 overall) earned the top seed in their WIAA sectional bracket. They picked up a first-round bye and then will host the winner of South Milwaukee and Milwaukee Custer in a WIAA regional final on March 13.

"It (the top seed) obviously shows that other coaches respect our team and our program," said Knights coach Corey Wolf, "but it also puts a bulls-eye firmly on our backs. It makes other teams really want to beat you."

Nicolet will close its regular season at Cedarburg (13-7) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, looking to close out a perfect 14-0 NSC season.

A 21-7 effort in the second quarter put the game away against Lutheran (6-13) as Nicolet got 16 points out of center Alex Cohen and nine from point guard Courtney Smith.

"As always, it was really keyed by the defense," said Wolf.

Whitefish Bay girls basketball

Just a couple of days after their best game of the season with a 63-40 win over Wauwatosa East, the Blue Dukes saw their six-game winning streak come to an end with a stinker of a 31-25 loss to Cedarburg.

"It was our shooting, it was a million things," said Bay coach Greg Capper, "and we had a lot going on at school around those two days so the kids were a little distracted."

Bay (7-6 in conference and 12-9 overall), will close its regular season at Milwaukee Lutheran (6-13) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The Blue Dukes winning streak earned them a top seed in their WIAA Division 2 regional bracket. They got a first round bye and now will host the winner of Port and Messmer in a 7 p.m. March 11 regional semifinal. Defending state champion Grafton is the two seed. The regional final will be 1 p.m. March 13 at Port Washington.

"Our body of work has been spectacular the last month," said Capper.

Bay was always fighting uphill after falling behind to Cedarburg 14-6 in the first quarter. Jessica Switzer had 12 points for the Blue Dukes.

Against Tosa East, it was just the opposite, as the Blue Dukes hit a season-high 59 percent of their shots and never looked back in taking a 38-23 halftime lead. Switzer continued her strong run of play with 22 points as Leslie Fuda and Maggie Rice had 11 apiece.

"It was our best game of the season," said Capper.

Brown Deer boys basketball

The Falcons broke open a competitive game with a 24-15 run in the fourth quarter and pulled away for a badly needed 56-42 win over Cudahy on Feb. 24.

The Falcons won despite an iffy 14-of-28 free throw shooting effort. Three players broke into double figures including Jamon Jackson-Wilson with 16 points, Joziah Mallett with 14 and Keone Moore with 10.

Brown Deer finished the regular season at 8-14. They hosted Messmer in a WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal game on Tuesday (see separate story) and if they won, will visit second-seeded Whitefish Bay at 7 p.m. Thursday, in a regional semifinal.

The regional final is slated for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Cedarburg. North Shore Conference co-champ Port Washington is the top seed.

Homestead boys basketball

The Highlanders second chance at playing spoiler in the North Shore Conference race came up a little short Feb. 25, as Germantown secured a share of the league title with a 56-50 victory.

"I thought Germantown had a great game plan," said Highlanders coach Ray Curry, "and I thought ours was pretty good, too. They sagged in the middle to take away John (Laihinen), but we know that we can score the basketball better than we did tonight."

The loss closed out a stretch of four tight games for the Highlanders (11-11 overall), in which they lost three of them. But in Curry's mind, the team has not lost any confidence, as it prepared to host Cedarburg in a WIAA regional semifinal on Tuesday (see separate story).

If it won that game, they would visit sectional top seed Arrowhead on Saturday in a regional final (TBA).

"If we rebound and defend consistently we can be a tough match," said Curry. "It's tourney time. It's time for people to step up."

The Highlanders almost did it against Germantown (16-6) on Feb. 25. The Warhawks tied Port Washington for the league title.

The score was never wider than five points until the very end. Homestead took the lead twice in the fourth quarter, the last time on a post shot by Max Beckers with 4:35 left that made it 46-45, but the Warhawks outscored the Highlanders 11-4 down the stretch.

A run where Homestead had two turnovers sandwiched around a miss were the defining strokes.

Coy Smith had 15 for Homestead while Lamonte Moore tossed in 13. Laihinen was limited to just eight. Germantown had four players in double figures.

Homestead hockey

The Highlanders recently ended their winter with a 5-2 WIAA regional loss to Fond du Lac St. Mary's Springs.

The loss finished their season with a 7-16-1 mark.

Leading scorers this winter included sophomore Peter Schmitz (11 goals and eight assists), freshman Adam Connolly (nine and seven), sophomore Jacob Roeper (seven and eight), freshman Thomas Fazio (three and nine), senior P.J. Connolly (five and six) and junior Nate Routhier (five and six).

Junior Sam Morris was the Highlanders primary goaltender this winter with a 3.97 goals against average.

Seniors included Griff Kudlata, Dylan Drozdowicz, P.J. Connolly, Kyle Fischer and Kevin Gawronski.

Whitefish Bay/North Shore hockey

A strong finish took a bit of the dull edge off of a disappointing season for the WNS hockey program this winter.

They finished with a 5-19-1 overall record, including a season-ending 6-0 loss to Beloit in WIAA regional play, but over their last seven games, they were an encouraging 4-2-1.

WNS could score, but they had problems on defense this season, as they tried three different goalies, but none had a goals-against-average of under five.

The leading scorer was Bay junior Joe Aiken (19 goals and 15 assists), while Nicolet senior Mike Christenson contributed with 10 goals and eight assists. Other double digit scorers included Shorewood freshman Djrodje Torbica (four and 14), Bay freshman Andy Krugler (five and 12), and Bay sophomore George Schley (10 and six).

Seniors on the team included Christenson, Shorewood's Joe Richter, Bay's Anthony Aiello and Nicolet's Chris DeGraff.

 

- Steven L. Tietz