This story is sponsored by: The University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic soccer team had to play Tuesday’s WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal without two of its senior starters, but in the end it didn’t make much difference.
Columbus Catholic scored eight goals in a 19-minute span and rolled to a 9-0 victory over Wisconsin Valley Lutheran in the matchup at Griese Park.
The Dons (13-4-3) advance to the Division 4 boys soccer regional final against La Crosse Aquinas (11-6-2). The game will be played at 4 p.m. Thursday at Griese Park.
Alexandra Hutchison and Calvin Brown each scored twice, and five others added a goal for Columbus Catholic, who was without seniors Sean McCarthy and Christian Payant.
It took 17:47 for the Dons to score, on a goal from Tara Brock. Hutchison scored at the 30:14 mark on a ball misplayed by the WVL goalkeeper and that opened the floodgates.
The Dons scored four more times before halftime on goals by Farid Torbey, Tyler Fuerlinger, Ryan Dieringer and Brown, and added three goals in the first 4:17 of the second half. Fuerlinger’s goal was the first in his varsity career.
“We started off kind of slow and then we were able to make some nice combination passes and on the ball passes and that helped us get behind the defense a lot,” Columbus Catholic coach Jeff Edwards said. “We were able to get a lot of good shots on goal.”
Evan Hansen had one save in the first half and Bailey Keffer finished off the shutout in goal for the Dons with three saves in the second half.
“We were playing with some guys out of position,” Edwards said. “We were moving guys around. Without Sean and his distribution skills, it probably hurt us a little bit in the first half.”
Dons 9, Wolves 0
Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 0 0 – 0
Columbus Catholic 6 3 – 9
First half: 1. CC, Tara Brock (Alexandra Hutchison), 17:47; 2. CC, Hutchison, 30:14; 3. CC, Farid Torbey (Ryan Dieringer), 32:15; 4. CC, Tyler Fuerlinger, 36:59; 5. CC, Dieringer (Charles Payant), 38:33; 6. CC, Calvin Brown (Will Atkinson), 40:29.
Second half: 7. CC, Brown, 47:38; 8. CC, Nick Malovrh (Noah Hansen), 48:11; 9. CC, Hutchison (Matt Olson), 49:17.
Shots on goal: Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 4; Columbus Catholic 29.
Corner kicks: Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 1; Columbus Catholic 11.
Records: Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 2-13; Columbus Catholic 13-4-3.