GALESVILLE — They have already teamed up to make history for the Holmen High School girls soccer program, so why not try to make a little more?
The odds are stacked against the fourth-seeded Vikings at the WIAA state tournament because top-seeded and defending Division 2 champion Brookfield Central represents the hurdle to clear for a chance to play for a title.
All three of Holmen’s seniors — Peyton Schneider, Morgan Potaracke and Jocelyn Williams-Johnson — and all six of its juniors — Moira Linse, Madeline Pierce, Ava Amundson, Lydia Sader, Lauren Sommerville and Talia Bembnister — were there when the team won its first regional championship two years ago.
They were, of course, there when the Vikings won their first sectional semifinal and first sectional championship last week.
And while the Lancers (12-4) have the veteran program in this matchup, Holmen has spent the season breaking new ground both in the Coulee Region and beyond.
The Vikings (18-3-1) will have to play their best game of the season in that 11 a.m. Thursday kickoff at the Uihlein Soccer Complex to advance and play either Wauwatosa East (15-4-1) or DeForest (14-6-1) on Saturday.
“This is going to be wone of my favorite memories I’ll have from high school,” Williams-Johnson, one of three captains, said of helping Holmen become a state qualifier for the first time. “We’ve created such a family, and I feel like I’m just out there playing with my best friends.
“It felt nice to be able to do this as such a conglomerate.”
With a postseason roster that includes 14 sophomores and freshmen, Williams-Johnson, Potaracke and Linse have held down important roles as captains.
They remember as kids the tougher seasons of a program that began 20 years ago. It took time for the Vikings to be able to compete locally before stepping into the company it keeps now.
Holmen completed the season ranked sixth among Division 2 teams by state coaches, and the momentum for that began when it tied Sauk Prairie 0-0 and beat River Falls 2-0 to open the season.
Those provided instant confirmation for a team that won 10 games in each of the past two seasons and had expectations on a level never before considered.
“We’ve always said that we believe we are a top program,” Linse said after the Vikings beat Sauk Prairie 1-0 in the sectional final on Saturday. “We’ve always thought we could compete with the best, and now this is us competing with the best and earning this.”
The win over the Eagles followed a second game with River Falls, too. The Wildcats scored early in that one, but Holmen recovered for a 3-1 win by scoring tying the game late in regulation and scoring twice in the final 10 minutes of overtime.
That game could be the example of what Holmen learned from those first two games of the season.
“When they scored in the first three minutes, we knew something needed to change,” Potaracke said. “We had to switch our mentality and get ready to go for the rest of the game.”
Holmen coach Nick Schellenger hopes his team can put Brookfield Central in that position on Thursday.
“We want to do to Milwaukee and show people what soccer can be like — what it is like — on the west side of the state,” he said. “We’re looking to go out and play our game. In my mind, the expression I am using is ‘Punch them in the mouth.’
“That’s what I want to go do. We don’t want to play to not lose. We want to play to win.”
If the Vikings figure out how to do that, the history being made becomes that much more significant.
