By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
The regular-season Rock Valley Conference champions flexed their muscles in a boys soccer matchup with East Troy last week.
And in the end, there wasn’t much the Trojans could do to stem the tide.
Visiting Whitewater scored seven goals and kept East Troy from reaching pay dirt in a 7-0 RVC victory. The loss ended East Troy’s regular season at 1-10-0 in the RVC and 2-12-1 overall.
East Troy opened Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Assocation regional tournament action Tuesday afternoon at Thomas More. Results were unavailable by press time.
While the Whippets, who beat East Troy 8-0 earlier this season, were putting goals together, their defensive effort also was a problem for the Trojans, East Troy coach Mike Bottum said.
“Whitewater did not allow us any true scoring opportunities,” he said. “They did a very good job of marking our stronger players.”
Bottum praised the play of defender Jared Polluck for his effort in the match.
“Jared did an outstanding job in a center-defensive role,” he said.
Whitewater finished the conference schedule at 11-1, one game ahead of second place McFarland’s 10-2.
Prior to the Whitewater contest, the Trojans traveled to Edgerton and returned with a 5-0 RVC victory.
Collecting goals for the Trojans were Brett Harper with two, Kai Bottum with one, Noah Scheer with one and Justin Krusenbaum with one.
Recording assists were Evan Harding, Lucas Bottum and Kai Bottum.
“The scoring opened up in the second half as we started working the ball from the outside,” Mike Bottum said.
Defender Charlie Housh also had a key role in the win, Bottum said.
“Charlie did an excellent job organizing the defense and preventing Edgerton from getting any good looks at the goal,” he said.
The winner of Tuesday’s Division 3 regional opener will advance to a regional final Thursday, Oct. 17, against either third-seeded Whitewater or sixth-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran at a time to be determined.
