June 17, 2021 – Shorewood, WI – The Kewaskum girls soccer team beat Shorewood on Thursday night during a WIAA Division 3 Sectional semifinal.
With the stakes continuing to grow with each matchup in the WIAA state tournament, both teams definitely put on their game faces.
However, while the game was tightly contested and scoreless in the first half, Kewaskum seemed to find a second gear towards the end of the first half that Shorewood struggled to match throughout the remainder of the game.
There was a brief spurt of rain in the last 15 minutes of the first half, which thankfully didn’t lead to any delays, but it did see many players on both teams slipping and struggling with footing.
Seven minutes into the second half Kewaskum sophomore Natalie Newman scored the game’s lone goal. The rest of the game was a defensive and goaltending clinic by Kewaskum, with senior netminder Nicole Butz making several key stops, including swatting what would be Shorewood’s final shot of the game in midair during the final minute of play.
Postgame Butz said the rain definitely made goaltending a challenge. “But I give all the credit to my defense, they blocked so many shots and I wouldn’t have been able to make a lot of the saves I did without them,” she said.
When asked about future plans, Butz noted she will attend UW-Madison starting this fall to study biology, but said her soccer playing career ends when this season does. “I am just really glad this wasn’t my last game,” she said.
Butz was modest and charitable when asked to give a special thanks/shoutout to any one in particular for Kewaskum’s success. “Really the whole team, with how hard they work and prepare, and the coaches who helped get us here. For me the coaches will put shots on me in practice, so everyone is committed to being the best they be on the field.”
Kewaskum advances to the WIAA Division 3 Sectional Finals taking on New Berlin Eisenhower at Kewaskum (although this was the pre-chosen location, not based on seeding or records) on Saturday, June 19 at 7 p.m.
It’s worth noting this will be the first of two Sectionals games to be held at Kewaskum and featuring a Kewaskum team as Kewaskum’s baseball team will host and play Lake Country Lutheran on Tuesday, June 22 at 10 a.m.