Burlington 4, Racine Lutheran 2
Experienced core of starters returns to pitch
By Mike Ramczyk
And Daniel Schoettler
Sports Correspondent
The date was Oct. 1, 2013.
Burlington High School defeated Waterford Union High School, 3-2, in a seemingly meaningless regular season affair.
It was the Demons’ first and only win that season.
A program that competes in the fall season with the always-mighty and popular sport of football, Burlington struggled to zero wins in 2014 and 2015, marking a historic run of futility.
Thirty games have come and gone, and though a few ended in a tie score, Burlington never finished in the win column.
Until Tuesday night.
In the 2016 season opener, the Demon kickers, finally touting some experience under head coach Joel Molitor, surged ahead in the second half for a 4-2 victory over visiting Racine Lutheran.
“Absolutely huge for us, but not just the result,” Molitor said. “We were up 2-0 at halftime, and we gave up two goals, and I think our team in the past might have given up at that point. We’ve had leads in the past, only to see them come back and win.”
“Our guys put their heads down and played for another goal, and they got one right at the end. It was amazing to see the maturity and mental strength they displayed. I was very, very proud of that.”
Burlington’s Marco Hernandez opened the scoring in the 44th minute, and Alex VanWhye scored shortly afterward to build a 2-0 lead.
Lutheran came back with two goals in the second half, but Hernandez and Gerson Soto each found the back of the net for Burlington.
The Demons out-shot Racine, 29-6.
Joey Gabor led Burlington with three saves.
Ryley Wilkomm and VanWhye each had an assist.
“On the ball, our passing was good, and our defense improved 100 percent in the second half,” Molitor said. “I know that sounds weird since we conceded two goals in the second half, but they were so much better. I’m very happy with this as a base for the rest of the season.”
Burlington will look for its first win streak since 2012 when it travels to Cudahy/St. Francis Thursday.
Core upperclassmen return
Burlington Demons boys soccer is looking to improve from year one to year two under head coach Joel Mo-litor. Molitor took over the program last year and is in his sixth year overall at the school.
Last year, the Demons went 0-13-1 and went 0-8-1 in the Southern Lakes Con-ference. They did reach the WIAA regionals last season before losing to Elkhorn.
Burlington returns most of last year’s varsity starters, with its core of juniors and seniors.
“Our greatest strength will be the experience and under-standing between the core of starting players,” Molitor said. “They have been on the same club team for almost three years now and they seemed to have picked up where they left off last spring.”
The Demons return sen-iors Colin McLaughlin, Car-ter Lang, Trevor Mann, Lu-kas Betzen, Gerson Soto, Derek Morrow, and Ben Travis. In their junior class, they return Jarred Kohout, Marco Hernandez, Kieran Bieneman, Andrew Zeman, and returning goalkeeper Joseph Gabor.
“I look forward to seeing our defense and goalkeeping improve because we con-ceded a lot of goals last year,” Molitor said. “Our offensive players have been working hard all summer so our chances per game should also increase.”
The newcomers include seniors Coi Hansen and Alex Diaz; juniors Ryley Wilkomm, Jack Brunner, Jacob Panackal, Owen Ehlen, Thomas Burinda and Alex-ander VanWyhe, and sopho-more Maxwell Cook.
“I expect us to be very successful in our non-conference games and tour-naments, and to compete well against our conference,” Mo-litor said. “We may not have the same depth as some of the bigger programs in the Southern Lakes Conference, but our style of play will make it very difficult to beat us.”
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