LA CROSSE — Moira Linse’s point as her teammates and coaches huddled during a hydration break at Swanson Field on Saturday afternoon was a simple one.
Her Holmen High School girls soccer program has spent the entire season doing things to earn a higher profile both in the Coulee Region and throughout the state.
The Vikings won the MVC for the first time, won a WIAA Division 2 regional championship for the second time and a sectional semifinal for the first time.
And as the Vikings talked amid the battle of a scoreless tie with Sauk Prairie and 60 minutes, 54 seconds of the game completed with a spot in the state tournament on the line, Linse emphasized that plight.
“We have to go out there,” she said with her voice elevated, “and play like we belong here.”
Less than 15 minutes later, sophomore Ava Rivera sent a pass toward sophomore Paige Olson, who attacked the ball with her right foot 35 yards away from the goal.
She made good contact and sent the shot high and 6-foot-1 Sauk Prairie goalkeeper Lila Shadewald to back-pedal and try to find the correct angle on the ball.
As it fell behind Shadewald’s reach, there was a quick silence and then an explosion of noise from the Holmen spectator section.
The Vikings turned that 1-0 lead into the biggest victory in program history as they qualified to play in the state tournament for the first time.
“I saw some open space, and I took it,” Olson said of the score, which came at 74:18. “I got a great ball from my teammate, and I didn’t really think about (shooting). I just did it.”
Holmen coach Nick Schellenger said the sequence wasn’t that out of the ordinary for Olson, who also gave her team a needed spark by hitting the crossbar as her team trailed River Falls 1-0 in the 67th minute on Thursday. Holmen scored two minutes later and beat the Wildcats 3-1.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Schellenger said of the shot off that pass from Rivera. “But that’s the kind of shot we’ve talked to Paige about all season. Those shots from range.
“She did it against New Richmond. That is Paige’s bread and butter. It’s what she does, and she found a way to get that shot.”
The Vikings (18-3-1) — ranked sixth in Division 2 by state coaches — will take their 12-game winning streak to Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee next week to compete for a state championship.
Second-ranked Brookfield Central (12-3), 10th-ranked Wauwatosa East (15-4-1) and unranked DeForest (14-6-2) also won sectionals on Saturday. The four teams will be seeded Sunday and matched up for 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. semifinal games at Uihlein on Thursday.
Olson’s goal was just the fifth scored against the seventh-ranked Eagles (12-3-5) all season and the first since May 8. Sauk Prairie was trying to qualify for its second state tournament in a row and fifth since 2021.
Linse posted her 16th shutout of the season and really had to make just one contested stop in goal. The Eagles were able to push a couple of shots near the goal, but defenders in front of Linse didn’t let the ball get to her much.
Sophomore Layni Woods rescued the Vikings from Sauk Prairie corner kicks by heading out one attempt in the first half and another in the second.
“We controlled them really well,” Linse said. “We didn’t let them get past, and when they did, we always had another person coming to stop them.
“I think our defense has really good chemistry and wrosk together really well. Sauk is a very talented team, and they play a little different than the rest of the teams we play. They have a deep defender, and we’re mostly a through-ball team, but we knew we could get it done today.”
