This story is sponsored by Dental Clinic of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
WESTON – The speed of D.C. Everest proved to be too much for the Marshfield girls soccer team once again.
For the third time this season, the Evergreens beat Marshfield, knocking the Tigers out of the WIAA playoffs with a 3-1 win in a Division 1 sectional semifinal Thursday night at D.C. Everest Middle School.
Everest (15-5-1) moves on to a sectional final Saturday at Wausau East against River Falls. Marshfield’s season ends with a 13-8 record.
D.C. Everest used its fast-break offense to net a pair of goals in the first half and Marshfield never recovered.
Michelle Mumper scored 6:49 into the game and Kristin Churkey added another at the 34:58 mark in a pivotal turn of events for the Tigers.
Marshfield’s Darian Molter narrowly missed on a free kick from about 30 yards out as her shot sailed over the crossbar of the goal by inches.
Everest goalkeeper Monica Mynsberge blasted a goal kick up to midfield and Chlesea Norem and Churkey did the rest, pushing the ball up the field past the stunned Tigers’ defense leading to Churkey’s goal.
“They transition out very well,” Marshfield assistant coach Jeff Molter said. “They run well and are good on their feet. We adjusted our formation and it did work. We played on our half of the field more than we had the first two times we played. We just made more mistakes than they did and they made us pay for them.”
Gretchen Murphy scored 2:48 into the second half to put Everest up 3-0, but Marshfield did everything it could to rally.
Molter had a blast stuffed by Mynsberge with 27 minutes left and finally got one past the Everest senior goalie from about 30 yards out at the 62:50 mark to get the Tigers on the scoreboard.
From there, Everest controlled things and the Tigers didn’t have another shot on goal.
“We switched from a 4-4-2 to a 3-3-4 defense and once we gave up a couple of goals we figured we had to start playing offense too,” Marshfield senior Alyssa Brenner said. “They have some fast girls and are a good team. It would have been nice to knock them off though.”
Marshfield, which didn’t win a conference game and was only 3-18-2 last year, had an incredible turnaround behind a mixture of experienced seniors and juniors, and a strong group of underclassmen that gives the Tigers even more hope for the future.
“The girls worked hard all season and turned it around,” Jeff Molter said. “Everybody has been very supportive and it was a fantastic season.”
Marshfield senior Sarah Wolff said the team’s resurgence was a great way to wrap up her soccer career.
“It was awesome. Every day was awesome,” Wolff said. “We had more wins this year than we had in the three years before, more goals than we had in the three years before. We won a regional championship, which Marshfield had not done for years. It was a great year.”
Evergreens 3, Tigers 1
Marshfield 0 1 – 1
D.C. Everest 2 1 – 3
First half: 1. DC, Michelle Mumper (unassisted), 6:49; 2. DC, Kristin Churkey (Chelsea Norem), 34:58.
Second half: 3. DC, Gretchen Murphy (ua), 42:48; 4. M, Darian Molter (Walker Guzowski), 62:50.
Records: Marshfield 13-8; D.C. Everest 15-5-1.