When the Rice Lake’s girls soccer team takes the field Thursday at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee, the Warriors will have to lean on their veteran lineup that has been battle-tested throughout the season.
The test in front of the Warriors is defending state champion Plymouth. Rice Lake received the No. 4 seed and will be playing No. 1 Plymouth in a Division 3 state semifinal at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. No. 2 McFarland and No. 3 Catholic Memorial play in the second game at 7 p.m. The state championship is Saturday.
Rice Lake will be making its third state appearance, and first since 2018. While this group of Warriors has yet to play in the state tournament, they have a coaching staff that knows what to expect. Head coach Shawn Gilbert and assistant Axel Berger led the Rice Lake boys team to state four times.
“The girls don’t have the experience of doing it but I have,” Gilbert said of the state tournament. “This will be trip No. 5, so we’ll be ready to go. I’m so happy for this team.”
Plymouth sports an 18-1-2 on the season, and the Panthers only loss this year was a 2-0 defeat to Whitefish Bay, a Division 2 state qualifier. Plymouth is making its fourth state appearance, first qualifying in 2000. The Panthers were state runner-up in 2021 before winning last season’s title.
On the season Plymouth has outscored its opponents by a margin of 131 to six, and in the postseason the Panthers have allowed one goal while scoring 32. The Panthers are led in scoring by Kalli Knowles, a sophomore who has scored 40 goals in the season.
“It’s going to be a Hudson- or New Richmond-type caliber team,” Gilbert said. “They are going to be solid top to bottom. Their bench is going to be solid top to bottom. We’ve got to bring it for 80 minutes if we’re going to have a chance.”
To slow down the high-scoring Panthers, the Warriors will rely on their defensive abilities for a squad that has recorded 12 shutouts, including a sectional championship victory over Ashland. Rice Lake has allowed three or more goals just three times, against New Richmond, Hudson and Division 2 state qualifier River Falls.
Rice Lake has a veteran group along its back line and in the goal. Senior captain Ayla Zuzek is a three-year starter and is having her best season with 111 saves and 0.88 goals against average. Seniors Maude Spagnolo-Salisbury and Hannah Millers are multi-year starters in the center of the defensive unit. Spagnolo-Salisbury and Miller, along with sophomore Clara Drost and freshman Abigail Britton helped thwart a number of scoring opportunities by Ashland, which had entered the sectional final averaging nearly five goals per game.
“All of us, we were with this team the whole year,” Spagnolo-Salisbury said. “Hannah and I as seniors have worked together three years, and then we added Drost and Abby. They’re doing amazing. We’ve bonded and it’s really been great.”
The Warriors ability to handle adversity this season has been notable. Injuries to key starters could have derailed the season as then leading scorer junior Julia Holthaus went down in Rice Lake’s second-to-last regular season game. Then in a sectional semifinal win the Warriors lost senior Addison Leaf, who was fourth on the team in points, to injury.
“Us being able to adapt with people getting hurt and having to move people to different positions, we’re really strong in every single area, so we don’t have weakness,” Zuzek said. “I think that makes us strong as a team together.”
Without those starters available, Rice Lake has needed to lean on others. Freshman Audriana Schultz, who scored the only goal in the sectional final win, has scored seven of her eight goals in the four postseason games.
“We were looking for a spark, looking for people that could give us that spark,” Gilbert said. “Even before the injuries we started working her in a little bit to see if that was an option. We’ve had Marianna [Gilbert] up top, we’ve had Madison [Gilbert] up top. At the end of day they don’t put possession on the scoreboard, it’s goals. And we were looking for different ways to get goals and it’s paid off.”
Senior captain Natalie Nolin has a team-high 44 points on the season. Nolin and Marianna Gilbert top the team with 12 goals. Schultz is at eight, with senior Ella Clark at five.
Rice Lake entered the year with high expectations with a big senior class and plenty of playing experience. That group of seniors has played a lot together all the through youth soccer and up to high school. After falling short of reaching state in previous years, its rewarding to experience the tournament in their final opportunity wearing the Warrior uniform.
“It means a lot,” Nolin said. “This is what we’ve been working towards for since we started in youth... so to do it our senior year is special.”
This week in practice Gilbert said the team is focused on being more precise with their passing as the Warriors will need to be sharp when facing a tough opponent. While there is a big challenge in front of them in the defending state champion, they have earned the opportunity to face that challenge.
“These girls are excited. They’ve earned it,” Gilbert said. “We know we’re up against it being a little short-handed missing some starters, but they are going to give it for a full 80 just like they did on Saturday.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0