LA CROSSE — The West Salem High School girls soccer team is preparing for the biggest game in program history.
For Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Friday’s WIAA Division 3 state semifinal against the Panthers is nothing new.
The top-seeded Crusaders (18-2-1) have won 10 state championships and were runner-up a year ago. Big games and talented opponents are the norm as members of the powerful Classic Eight Conference.
Fourth-seeded West Salem is the first MVC team not named Aquinas to become a state qualifier, and coach Lionel Karyea understands what awaits his Panthers in the 11 a.m. kickoff.
“They have a very good team,” Karyea said of the Crusaders before chuckling during a Tuesday afternoon practice at Logan’s Swanson Field. “They move the ball very well and have some very talented athletes.
“They also have a very good defense, and I think it will come down to which team can impose its game on the other.”
That won’t be easy for West Salem (16-3-1) to do, but it can also walk on the field without an ounce of pressure to interfere. The Coulee Region is still building its soccer reputation, and the Panthers qualifying for the bracket has already done that.
“We were the 1 seed going into (the regionals), and we made it,” Karyea said. “Now we are the 4 seed, and we just want to see what we can go out there and do.”
West Salem has won five straight games and tries to extend that to six against a team that has allowed 12 goals and is 11-0-1 over its past 12 games. That tie, by the way, is against a Hartland Arrowhead (13-0-6) that is a Division 1 state qualifier.
The Crusaders also pushed Muskego (19-0-2) — Classic Eight champion and another a Division 1 state qualifier — in a 1-0 loss.
“One thing we’ve done this year is motivate each other on the field,” junior Maya Hoff said. “We have to continue to do that. A mistake will be made, but we have to help each other through that.”
Senior Kayla Olson said she and teammates have been consuming as much Catholic Memorial video as they can find since beating Waupaca 2-1 in overtime on Saturday.
While the bigger focus has been on what the Panthers can control in the game, the more players can understand about their opponent, the better,
“We’ve been watching their state game from last year and taking as many notes as we can,” Olson said. “After we won on Saturday, we wanted to know who we were playing and learn about them.
“We are looking at their strong suits and trying to find weak spots. We just want to play our best, and those are things we have to understand to do that.”
What they have certainly discovered is that they need to find ways to make junior midfielder Margaret Sisk (23 goals) and senior midfielder Annika Tarwacki (11 goals) work for their opportunities. Senior midfielder Lucia Brown has also scored seven times.
Should one of them strike early, the Panthers will have to respond like they did against the Comets, who were up 1-0 just two minutes into the sectional final.
West Salem didn’t tie the game until Sam Niemeier’s goal 78 minutes in. The Panthers won it when junior Emily Graham took possession 9 minutes, 50 seconds into overtime and scored at 9:59 after dribbling around two defenders and putting the ball into the left side of the net.
“They were counting down the seconds, and I didn’t hear any of it,” Graham said. “I took a couple touches to get around them, and they went with me instead of the ball, and I got the shot.”
Graham said qualifying for this state tournament was the goal all season. The Panthers have the best blend of experience and talent as they’ve had, and they have come through in big moments for wins all spring.
Come back to couleesports.com on Thursday for another West Salem soccer story.
