By Tim Wester
Correspondent
How close was the Union Grove girls’ soccer to playing in the championship game of the Racine County Invite last weekend?
In the estimation of Broncos coach Sean Jung, it was seven agonizing minutes.
Those seven minutes came in Union Grove’s frustrating 2-1 loss to Racine Horlick in the first round of the Invite Friday.
Horlick posted two quick goals in the first seven minutes of the game and held off the Broncos the rest of the way for the victory.
“We came out very flat and conceded a penalty kick in the first minute,” Jung said. “But then we made a silly error in the face of our goal that resulted in a second goal in the seventh minute.
“(That was) the difference between playing for a championship and playing for 5th place,” he added.
Union Grove beat Case resoundingly in a 5-0 win Saturday, but fell to Waterford in a shootout in the fifth-place game.
Olivia Wilde scored Union Grove’s lone goal early in the second half off a penalty kick, but it wasn’t enough to catch Horlick.
“We found our groove in the second half, applying constant pressure we earned a penalty kick of our own,” Jung said. “We continued the pressure the entire second half but couldn’t find the tying goal.”
The Broncos took their frustrations out on Racine Case in the consolation round on Saturday morning with a commanding 5-0 victory.
Holly Grajera led the onslaught with two second-half goals and an assist, while Caitlin Obernberger, Mya Peterson, and Wilde each chipped in a goal apiece to knock off Case.
Brianna Johnson also racked up her seventh shutout of the season, stopping just two shots.
“We bounced back well against Case,” Jung said. “Caitlin (Obernberger) got us rolling early and we never looked back.”
The Broncos jumped out to a 2-0 first half lead behind Obernberger and Olivia Wilde’s goals.
Grajera then made it 4-0 with a pair of second goals, before Peterson put the finishing touches on the game with a goal late in the game.
The Broncos, however, struggled in their final game of the tournament in a 1-0 loss the Waterford.
After both teams battled to a scoreless tie at the end of regulation, Waterford won the shootout 5-4 to earn fifth place in the tournament.
“Being that this game was between conference foes, it was a physical game with neither team wanting to concede anything,” Jung said. “We had better chances, but Waterford’s goal keeper made some quality saves to force the shootout.”
Both teams made their first three kicks in the shootout, and then missed their fourth attempt.
But the Wolverines drilled their next two kicks, while Union Grove missed its last kick to seal the defeat.
“I’m sure there will be more fireworks when we play each other again,” Jung said.
Union Grove had better results at Lake Geneva Badger last Thursday, April 30.
The Broncos tallied four goals in an impressive 4-1 victory.
“The girls were more ready for Badger than any opponent we’d faced all season,” Jung said. “We watched film and trained all week to prepare specifically for them.”
Wilde led the way with a hat trick, scoring three goals and assisting on Caitlin Obernberger’s goal to lead the way to victory.
“We spent nearly the entire match in their end conceding just one set piece goal early in the second half, one of their 2 shots for the entire match.”
Union Grove looks to keep its offense rolling when it travels to Waterford Tuesday.
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