Soccer boys keep making history
By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
The Union Grove boys soccer team is on quite a roll.
It took until Thursday night for the Broncos to suffer their first loss, a 7-1 defeat to defending Division 3 state champion Delavan-Darien.
But that doesn’t take away the fact that Union Grove is having a historic season, and at 9-1-1 it has earned the No. 9 spot in the WIAA Division 2 state rankings.
Union Grove, Elkhorn (#7, D2) and Delavan-Darien (#1, D3) are all state-ranked squads in the Southern Lakes Conference.
Union Grove travels to Burlington, who earned its first SLC win in five years Thursday night, on Tuesday in Burlington.
Grove knocks off Case
Scratch another one off the bucket list.
For the first time in school history, the Union Grove boys soccer team defeated Racine Case.
The Broncos jumped out to a 3-1 first half lead and never looked back, en route to a 4-1 victory, Wednesday, Sept. 6.
The rewarding victory was the first of three Grove triumphs last week that also included a 4-2 win over Westosha Central and a commanding 7-0 victory over Racine Lutheran.
“Having never beaten Case all-time in the history of Union Grove boys soccer,” Union Grove coach Sean Jung said. “Needless to say we were ready for them. It felt great to finally beat those guys.”
The eagerness was evident in the play of Logan Farrington and Cole Anderson, who combined for three goals and two assists in the contest.
Farrington struck first with a goal in the 18th minute off a one-touch pass from Anderson. The Broncos later made it 2-0 when Case booted an Anderson cross into its own goal.
After Case cut the Bronco lead to 2-1, Anderson fired a shot into the far-side net from inside the box to rebuild the two-goal advantage just before halftime.
Farrington later struck the final blow with an unassisted goal in the 70th minute to seal the victory.
The three-goal advantage was more than enough for goalie Michael Polzin, who stopped seven shots to preserve the victory.
After the emotional victory, the Broncos came out a bit flat against Westosha Central Thursday, Sept. 7. The Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the game and led for most of the first half.
Farrington finally jump-started the Grove with a penalty-kick goal to knot the game at 1 just before half.
It was all Union Grove after that as Anderson deflected a shot off the Falcon goalkeeper to make it 2-1 early in the second half. Farrington then scored on a header from Kane Talley to build the lead to 3-1.
After a miscommunication led to the Broncos scoring a goal in their own net to make it 3-2, Farrington converted his second penalty kick goal to earn the hat trick and build the lead to 4-2.
Polzin then shut the door on the Falcons from there to secure the Broncos’ victory.
“After an emotional game with Case, it was understandable that we were flat against Westosha Central,” Jung said. “We finally found our fire in the second half with three goals, and Polzin stopped seven shots in a hotly-contested match to lead the way.”
The Broncos had a much easier time against Racine Lutheran, Saturday, Sept. 9. Anderson tallied four goals in the contest, while Polzin netted his fourth shutout of the season to help Union Grove cruise to a 7-0 victory.
“This game was nothing like the close affairs of the other two games,” Jung said. “Lutheran managed just two shots as we won comfortably.
Anderson was especially impressive with his four-game outburst, and now has 16 goals on the season.”
Farrington, Talley, and Sawyer Richardson also found the back of the net for the Grove, which was never threatened in the game.
The Broncos look to build off their successful week Tuesday when then travel to Burlington to take on the Demons in a Southern Lakes Conference matchup.
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