HOLMEN — Holmen High School girls soccer coach Nick Schellenger encouraged his players to celebrate a little bit Tuesday night.
They deserved it, he said, for making history.
The Vikings controlled their game against Onalaska throughout a scoreless first half before striking three times in the second half for a 3-0 victory that made them MVC champions for the first time in program history.
“It’s an incredible feeling, and this is very important for the girls,” said Schellenger, whose team has won seven straight games. “They are very aware that this is the first conference championship in our history, but I can also tell you that their goals are much higher.
“We talked about it preseason, we talked about it a week or two ago. This is the first milestone on the way to the eventual goal of winning in the playoffs.”
Holmen (13-3-1, 9-0-0 MVC) has one game remaining in the round-robin portion of the conference season and will play Aquinas (12-1-0, 7-1-0) on Tuesday. The Blugolds — ranked eighth in Division 4 — play Onalaska on Thursday and could tie the Vikings at 9-1 by winning both games, but Holmen gets the edge on goal differential.
The Vikings, who have shut out four straight opponents, beat the Blugolds 5-0 earlier this season. Holmen has also outscored its conference opponents 32-1, and Aquinas has outscored its 29-10.
Junior Moira Linse stopped all four shots she faced from the Hilltoppers to give the Vikings their fourth straight shutout.
Holmen scored its first goal at the 60-minute, 35-second mark, and it came on an assist from sophomore Amelia Dewey that set up sophomore Sophie Seiler.
“You’ve got to be able to think outside the box, and on the first goal we saw a real clever back heel to set up (Seiler) at the top of the box,” Schellenger said. “That wasn’t an easy ball to control.
“On some level it’s hard to practice creativity, but that is specifically a tool that we have given them.”
An own goal — a shot by sophomore Ava Rivera went off an Onalaska player — pushed the lead to 2-0 at 63:10, and junior Lydia Sader set up sophomore Paige Olson for the final goal off a corner kick at 72:05. The goal was Olson’s seventh of the season and the assist Sader’s 10th.
West Salem 5, Tomah 4
WEST SALEM — The Panthers scored twice in the first half and three times in the second half to beat the Timberwolves.
West Salem held Tomah scoreless during the first half.
Emily Graham scored three goals for the Panthers, giving them a 2-0 halftime lead with an unassisted score. That followed an assist on a goal for Maya Hoff to open the scoring.
She then scored twice and assisted on a goal by Ava Schuster in the second half.
Hoff had the goal in the first half and an assist in the second, and Anna Biondo assisted on one of Graham’s goals in the second half.
