PESHTIGO — The Peshtigo High School girls soccer team has set the bar high in its first season as a varsity program.
On Tuesday, the Bulldogs defeated Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran 4-0 to claim the Packerland Conference Championship.
“It’s exciting,” Peshtigo coach Jessica Carriveau said. “All the girls have improved so much. Our new players have definitely stepped up, and our returning players have been great role models and solid players.”
Peshtigo has known defeat only once this season with an overall record of 9-1-3. Their lone blemish was a very competitive 2-0 game against a Marinette team that has won back-to-back North Eastern Conference titles while averaging 6.5 goals per game.
At 3-0-3 in Packerland play, they sit alone at the top of the conference standings.
The Blazers entered the game still in the mix for the Packerland title but fell to 1-2-2 in conference play with the loss. They will play Sturgeon Bay on Thursday in what is now a battle for second place.
Tuesday’s game marked Peshtigo’s eighth shutout of the season. A very stingy Bulldog defense has allowed a paltry 0.54 goals per game and surrendered multiple goals only twice: a 3-2 win at Luxemburg-Casco and the 2-0 loss at Marinette.
The Bulldogs kept the pressure off their defense in the first half by controlling the ball up front.
Audra Bauman netted a pair of goals and assisted a third in the first half to stake the team to a 3-0 lead, a comfortable situation for a group that has not allowed three goals in a game all season.
After Bauman scored the first two goals, she assisted a strike from Kayla Murphy.
“We controlled the ball really well for the most part,” Carriveau said. “We got a little sloppy at the end of the first half, and then the second half was very physical, but we did what we had to do and held our own. Lucy came up with a couple of great saves and the defense saved us there at the end.”
N.E.W. Lutheran put pressure on the Bulldog’s back line with some aggressive play in the second half, but the Bulldogs and goalkeeper Lucy Lemire were up to the task.
Lemire made several quality saves in the second half including one at point blank range in the closing seconds that preserved the shutout.
Meanwhile Peshtigo’s defenders stymied the Blazers all night.
Lorelei Maxwell capped the scoring with a back-breaking fourth goal in the waning minutes of the contest.
Up NextThe Bulldogs have one more regular season game at Denmark on Thursday before beginning the WIAA Division 4 playoffs as a No.5 seed taking on No. 12 New Holstein at Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran on May 30.
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