Lady Demons say goodbye to 11 seniors
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
OREGON – The Burlington girls soccer team was right there.
Despite an hour and a half drive into a hostile environment and a scoreless first half, the Lady Demons had Oregon right where they wanted them Saturday in a Division 2 regional final.
In the 42 minute, Merin Mundt dished the ball to Lindsay Kraemer, who hooked a frozen rope over the Oregon goalie for a 1-0 lead.
The sixth-seeded Demons, who lost in overtime to No. 3 Oregon in the regular season, were poised to pull off the upset.
But the Panthers answered with two goals in the next 20 minutes to escape with a 2-1 victory, and the Lady Demons were left wondering what could’ve been.
“We’ve been playing together since we were 8 years old, and it’s really emotional that we have to be separated,” said junior Katie Travis.
“We dug so deep and threw the entire kitchen sink at them,” said senior Emily Mundt. “We were sacrificing everything, and I couldn’t ask for a better team.”
Only two minutes after Burlington’s goal, Oregon’s Kelsey Jahn tied up the game on a penalty kick to make it 1-1. Jahn beat Burlington goalie Kaitlyn Bonton, who was playing her first varsity game as goalie due to Erica Novak’s illness.
A few minutes later, Merin Mundt, Burlington’s biggest offensive threat, was tackled in the Oregon penalty box, but this time the foul wasn’t called.
Then, in the 62nd minute, Oregon’s Eliza Neidhart dribbled past the defense of Emily Mundt and sailed a 40-yard kick over Bonton’s outstretched arms for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
“It was a really good shot,” Emily Mundt said. “We pressured the ball, and that’s all we can ask for. Kaitlyn isn’t going to save everything. She played a great game.”
By the 70th minute, Merin Mundt and Travis had just missed on three shots. In the final five minutes, Burlington had a couple corner kicks, but Oregon’s physical, aggressive defense held and the game ended.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Burlington coach Joel Molitor said. “We had our style down, and we played well. They played their hearts out. In the second half, we played more to our feet than in the air. We were unlucky not to get a penalty kick for Merin. We had our chances.”
Molitor credited Oregon’s defense for shutting down his team in the final 38 minutes.
“They were experienced and quick,” he said. “They were some of the fastest defenders we’ve seen. It was a good, physical game, and Oregon did a nice job.”
Bonton finished with seven saves in her first varsity start.
Burlington finished the season 12-4-3. The team says goodbye to 11 seniors: Tegan Rock, Vergara, Jessica Boarini, Paige Puntillo, Emily Mundt, Ashley Derks, Maddy Harry, Madi Epping, Caroline Kocha, Aleigha Barry and Allie Zeman.
Both Barry and Zeman missed Saturday’s game due to injury.
Burlington won the Southern Lakes Conference the past two seasons, its first back-to-back titles in school history.
“I couldn’t look at any of them in the huddle,” Molitor said. “I was going to start crying because they were crying. It’s one of the privileges of my life to coach a team like this. The seniors got me started. I don’t what we’re going to do leadership-wise. This is a heck of a group.”
Vergara started playing her sophomore season.
“These are my best friends,” she said. “They mean the world to me.”
Emily Mundt said it was a privilege to play with everyone for one last time.
-
-
-
-
-
With all due respect to coach Molitor I think the Burlington girls soccer success has its roots in three main areas. First, many of the girls have dedicated thousands of hours year round including club play, indoor leagues and many skills and conditioning camps to hone their skills. Congratulations to all the girls whose determination and dedication has paid off. There are two other groups that are equally important. The first is the parents of these girls who have supported their daughters with countless hours of travel as well as the financial contribution required for many of these girls to play throughout the country. The last group is very select and only includes Tyson Mundt and Brian Barry. Like the girls, these two coaches dedicated thousands of hours to training many of the girls in their early years in Burlington. More importantly, they recognized that to be the best you have to play against the best and provided opportunities and encouragement in order for the girls to reach the elite level .I am sure their daughters and the other girls on the team are grateful to both of them and I hope they have enjoyed reaping the fruits of their labors. Congrats to all for back to back conference championships!!!!!