Girls face Evansville, Milton with third of players missing
By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien High School girls soccer team began its 2016 season with games against Evansville on April 5 and Milton on April 8.
In the game against Evansville, the Comets trailed at half, 2-1. The Comets then got the most out of its leading scorer from a year ago, Suleimy Perez. Perez is a sophomore forward this season after leading the team last year as a freshman.
Perez assisted on the team’s only goal in the first half and then in the second half, scored three times, earning a hat trick. Luisa Torres scored the first half goal, and Claudia Niewenhuis assisted on the first goal scored by Perez.
Defensively, the Comets gave up two more goals in the second half, leading to the 4-4 tie. Carly Dodge earned nine saves while allowing the four goals.
“This last week was spring break for us, so we played with 14 players (out of 20 on the roster) each game,” head coach Mike Marse said. “Suly stepped up in the Evansville game and played great in the second half. She scored two of her goals from outside the 18-yard line.”
Three days later, the Comets traveled to Milton and neither the offense nor defense could do its job against the faster Milton team. Milton scored 11 goals by the game’s end compared to Delavan-Darien’s one.
Perez assisted Niewenhuis’ lone goal for the team. Marse said the team couldn’t possess the ball, and Milton’s speed in transition was the killer. Marse said going forward, the team will be at full strength with all of its players and should do better.
The Comets were scheduled to play at home against Big Foot-Williams Bay Tuesday. The other game on the team’s schedule for the week is set for 11 a.m. Saturday against Lakeside Lutheran.
The two teams played each other once a season ago and Big Foot-Williams Bay won at home, 5-3. Perez scored two goals in that game while Niewenhuis scored once.
