BY NATE BEIER/GX3MEDIA
MILWAUKEE — It took just twelve seconds to undo 40 minutes of careful positioning for the Aquinas High School girls soccer team in its WIAA state semifinal contest with The Prairie School on Friday morning.
A pair of scoring strikes — the first just 12 seconds into the second half — were enough for The Prairie School to turn in a 2-0 victory in a Division 4 state semifinal at Uilhein Soccer Park in Milwaukee.
The Aquinas (16-4) defense played under duress throughout much of the first half. However, goalkeeper Madelynn Grossbach and the Blugolds’ defense stymied The Prairie School (19-1-1) by denying all 11 of its shot attempts. Grossbach was credited with six saves as the two teams went into intermission tied at 0.
But just a dozen ticks into the second half of the Blugolds’ first state game in nine years, Keira Kimbrough changed the narrative of the contest for the Hawks.
Kimbrough took the opening possession, drove deep into Blugolds’ territory before directing a shot at goalkeeper Madelynn Grossbach. The Aquinas senior made the stop, but the ball had crossed the plane of the goal line in doing so.
Three-and-a-half minutes later, The Prairie School’s Elle Jaramillo squeezed a shot into the lower right corner of the goal to put the Hawks up 2-0.
That score stood as the final as Aquinas was eliminated from the WIAA postseason following the team’s first state run since 2017.
“They gave everything they had. As a coach, that’s all you can ask for,” Aquinas coach Doug Harpenau said. “Prairie was number two in state and we were right there with them. We’re hanging with them, we’re shooting with them, the defense was just doing great.”
Harpenau said the vibe among the team was quite positive at halftime. The first-half play by Aquinas led the coach to remain optimistic in keeping the game close in the second half.
“I says, ‘if we keep this up, we have that potential of getting that one goal at the end. We’ll take it,'” Harpenau said.
Aquinas’ opportunity to score never materialized. The Blugolds finished with just three shots on goal, and a lone attempt in the second half.
The Prairie School put 14 of its 25 shots on the frame in the second half. Following the two early-period scores, the Hawks struggled to crack the Aquinas defense. Grossbach and the Blugolds’ back line stopped the final 11 shots on goal.
“They have a very aggressive, offensive team and they just had us,” Grossbach said. “They had more shots on us, I mean clearly 25-3, they had a bunch of shots and they were really good. I think we did the best we could to our abilities.”
The Prairie School advances to Saturday’s Division 4 state championship against top-seeded Appleton Xavier (22-1).
Aquinas finishes the season with a 16-4 record. The Blugolds played to a runner-up finish in the Mississippi Valley Conference during the regular season and then captured the program’s first sectional title since 2017 in the postseason.
“It’s hard to say goodbye to all these good seniors — the whole team, actually,” Harpenau said, “but these seniors especially that gave everything they possibly could for their school, the community, to the Mississippi Valley Conference, to their parents, their team. They gave everything they could and we ended up on the wrong end of the stick.”
