MILWAUKEE — As the Holmen High School girls soccer team sat in a circle to discuss what had just happened, the vibe included a bit of anger and healthy doses of frustration and dejection that was presented with plenty of tears.
The Vikings were supposed to just be happy to participate at the Uihlein Soccer Complex for the first time. Instead, they proved that they belong on the field with the best Division 2 teams the WIAA has to offer.
Coach Nick Schellenger smiled as he talked to his players about what he saw from the sideline.
He wasn’t happy that the season had ended, of course. But he was thrilled with the fight and execution he saw from a first-time state qualifier as it faced off with a seven-time state champion.
It can take some time for players to appreciate something like that.
The official difference in Thursday’s 1-0 victory for top-seeded and defending champion Brookfield Central was a successful corner kick nearly 98 minutes into a state semifinal in Milwaukee.
But there were too many positives for Holmen to count.
Instead of struggling against an elite team, the Vikings pushed it to the brink. Instead of just walking away with an experience they rarely receive, they nearly gave themselves — a group that won the first MVC and sectional titles in program history this spring — a chance to play for a championship.
For more than 97 minutes, the fourth-seeded Vikings (18-4-1) teased a shock to the state high school soccer world by playing even with a program competing in its 16th state tournament.
Holmen expected every offensive opportunity to be a battle, and it was. The Lancers held advantages of 21-0 in shots and 15-0 on corner kicks.
Holmen knew it had to defend like it had never defended before, and it did.
That gave Schellenger the chance to talk about how no one who watched the game will dismiss the Vikings as a weak qualifier from the other side of the state again after watching them go toe to toe with a team that still had 10 of the 11 starters that won last year’s title.
“We gave it everything we had, and we had nothing to lose,” senior defender Morgan Potaracke said. “We put everything we had into this game.
“We held them (scoreless) for 97 minutes, and I’m proud of the way our team played against a team that is that good.”
The Lancers, by the way, were winning state championships before Holmen even had a program.
Brookfield Central is so good that it beat second-seeded Wauwatosa East — a 1-0 semifinal winner over DeForest in the second semifinal on Thursday — 7-0 during the regular season. By contrast, the Lancers needed a scramble on a corner kick at 97 minutes, 14 seconds to oust the Vikings.
Potaracke, senior Peyton Schneider and sophomore Ellie Hoehn were Schellenger’s starters on a back line that stood up to an attack that produced 23 goals in four regional and sectional victories.
“They put up the performance of a lifetime,” Schellenger said of the starters and substitutes on the back line. “And I think they showed themselves what they are capable of. A new bar was set for them.
“I think they were excited by the challenge, and the confidence was soaring on our back line.”
What wasn’t cleaned up by that group was mostly handled by junior goalkeeper Moira Linse, who stopped nine of the 10 shots she faced.
The corner kick that eventually found its way to her right and just inside the left post on a scramble was all a high-powered offense could get against a team that set a program record with 18 wins and allowed 11 goals all season.
“It was an outstanding performance from Moira,” Schellenger said. “I just say it is her usual because that is what she is capable of.
“I was so excited for her to be able to showcase her talent on this stage. This gives her the recognition she deserves for being the keeper that she is. It takes a team like Brookfield (Central) to allow that to be shown.”
Linse will return for a senior season that will be filled with new expectations for a team that is elevating itself quickly amid the state landscape. Nineteen others on Holmen’s tournament roster will, too.
In the past couple of months, the Vikings have taken the first step of being able to compete with teams like Onalaska and Aquinas — they won four games against those teams 11-0 — to beating state-ranked teams like River Falls — twice by a combined 5-1 — and Sauk Prairie — 1-0 in the sectional final — to taking a state power down to the wire and within three minutes of penalty kicks.
“Looking at all that we did, we held (the) defending champs to one goal, and it took them 98 minutes (to score),” said Linse, who had 16 shutouts this season. “We’re not the team they were expecting to show up. but coming from a captain’s perspective, I’m really proud of the way we went out there and played today.”
