PRINT ADS

Holmen High School's girls soccer team finished its season by not scoring a goal in its last 503 minutes, with the dubious streak coming to an end in a 7-0 loss in a Division 1 regional semifinal at Sauk Prairie May 22.

Holmen (0-21) trailed 3-0 at halftime, with the final goal of the half coming from Elaine Gerry. The Edgewood College recruit finished with four tallies, pushing her season total to 26.

“Gerry was a phenomenal player,” HHS head coach Khyl Sircy said. “She was very advanced and competes in my mind at or above the level of our top players in the MVC.

“She is a natural. She really does not struggle or play under any stress at all. She plays at ease 100 percent of the time.”

Renee Weeks followed by beginning a span in which Sauk ended any remote chance of a Vikings comeback by scoring four times in just over 4 1/2 minutes. Weeks will play at Luther College next season.

Lucie Borden took a complete-game loss at goalkeeper, tallying 16 saves. Sauk outshot HHS 23-5, with Holmen getting two shots each from sophomore Katlyn McHenry and freshman Ciana Bielke, and one shot from sophomore Sydney Sua.

The Vikings lack off offense in the final quarter of the season came in part because of a knee injury to junior midfielder McKenzie Hart, who became the HHS first player to score more than one goal in a conference game April 15 at Sparta. Hart was the team's offensive Most Valuable Player.

“Without Hart our offense did struggle a good deal,” Sircy said. “The other girls did what they could and Sydney Sua did a great job filling in for Hart at her position.

“Overall, Hart is the ball distributor on our team; kind of the pivot point on our field. She has awesome field vision and is able to place the ball wherever it is needed. Hart also enjoys taking the ball to the net herself, so losing Hart was a big loss for Holmen this year.”

Holmen also was hurt by its lack of experiecne at forward and midfielder, with Alex Wright the only senior to start at either spot in Holmen's 2-5-3 alignment at Sauk.

“In the past when the season was over the girls did not touch a ball again until tryouts in March,” Sircy said. “Our girls need to work on spending a bit of time in the weight room so that we do not see as many injuries in the upcoming seasons, as well. We also need to target in on offense and build a stronger top half of the field so we're not afraid of taking it to the goal.”

Holmen also started junior Aubrey Symons and sophomore Katlyn McHenry at forward, along with jumor Chy Mala Young, Sua, Wright, Bielke and freshman Makenzi Rasmussen at midfield at Sauk. The Vikings back line featured junior Kayla Fortin, sophomore Yer Thao and senior Brooke Rasmussen in the finale.

“I do believe that we will continue to build and be a lot stronger team by the time that the sophomores become seniors,” Sircy said.

Bench players who earned minutes included sophomore Brittany Wright, juinor Aubrey Gullicksrud, senior Talita DaCosta and junior Mallory Johnson. Though HHS loses Alex Wright, Brooke Rasmussen and DaCostoa to graduation, the future appears to encourage improvement, with four juniors, five sophomoes and two freshman earning time in the finale.

“My seniors did a great job this year when they were healthy,” Sircy said. “Our record does not do justice to how much these girls improved throughout the season.”

Wisconsin State Journal assistant sports editor Eric Anderson contributed to this article.