By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien High School girls soccer team was winless entering this past week and went into its May 2 contest against Lakeside Lutheran hoping to get its first win.
The first half didn’t go as planned and Lakeside Lutheran led 2-0. But thanks to a second half push by the Comets, Delavan-Darien tied the game at 2-2. However, DDHS was unable to score again leading to a tie and bringing the team’s overall record to 0-4-4.
“It’s kind of the same story on different days. We go into halftime, we talk about our mistakes, make our adjustments and then we dominate the second half. It’s kind of frustrating as a coach and I’m sure it is for the players as well because they aren’t getting it together in the first half. I believe we were the better team,” Comets head coach Mike Marse said.
Two days later, Delavan-Darien competed in the Cudahy Invite and played against West Allis Hale and South Milwaukee to start. The Comets put forth solid efforts but lost both games by one goal, 1-0 and 2-1, respectively.
“(In the) West Allis Hale game, we were pretty even. They took a really good shot and scored on us. We couldn’t get anything going. South Milwaukee, we changed things up. We put some people in different places. Our outcome there was good for us, but it was another game we could’ve won,” Marse said.
“One goal was a mistake and the other was just a good shot. Our changes kind of worked,” he added.
Those changes really paid off in the final game of the Cudahy Invite, against Cudahy/St. Francis, when Delavan-Darien won 10-0. The win was the team’s first of the season.
Alexa Plomares, Minerba Rodriguez and Brianna Manriquez each scored two goals apiece, while Kennedy Ginner, Kailea Timmerman, Yatszary Huerta and Annyce Peralta also knocked one in as well.
“We kept those changes that we made and I think we’ll keep those changes going forward. We brought our sweeper up to center mid and then started a couple sophomores at center mid. Brianna Manriquez – we started at center mid. We were a bit more active with those two in there. I think it helped against South Milwaukee and it definitely helped against Cudahy,” Marse said.
He said the girls enjoyed their first win of the season.
“I think it will take a little pressure off. I think we came out really flat in the first game, which affected our second game. I think we’ve had trouble finishing in the final third and that Cudahy game helped that.”
See more DDHS sports in the May 9 Enterprise.
