Wenck, Hunsucker, Ketterhagen played with combined team in Northern Ireland
By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
The fortunes of the Waterford High School girls soccer team are rising, in part, because the talent on the squad is improving.
The Wolverines won the school’s first-ever WIAA Division 2 regional title this past spring and advanced to within a match of the Division 2 state tournament.
As Waterford’s talent improves, so do opportunities to continue playing beyond high school. Three seniors are going to play college soccer for NCAA Division 1 programs after their time in the Wolverines’ green and white is over.
In the fall of 2016, goalkeeper Andi Wenck will play for Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kans. Forward Ella Hunsucker and midfielder Lexi Ketterhagen will attend Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill.
Charleston is about four hours south of Waterford. Manhattan is about a 10-hour drive southwest of Waterford.
Wenck is attending Kansas State on an athletic and academic scholarship. Hunsucker and Ketterhagen are attending Eastern Illinois on partial athletic scholarships.
Wenck came upon Kansas State partially by chance while poking around the Internet, and will be part of the Wildcats’ inaugural girls’ soccer team.
Kansas State will start playing girls soccer in the fall of 2016, which will be Wenck’s freshman season. The team will play an open schedule at first, and will eventually transition to a full Big 12 schedule.
“I just love the culture of it, and the city has a really strong, community feeling,” said Wenck, who plans to study healthy and nutrition. “It’s a lot like home. I feel so blessed to even have the opportunity to be part of something like this. I couldn’t ask for anything better. I truly feel blessed to part of the Kansas State family.”
Hunsucker and Ketterhagen committed together to Eastern Illinois.
“We go way back,” Ketterhagen said of her and Hunsucker. “Probably to first grade – we’re really close. We’ve played soccer a long time.”
Wolverines’ coach Rob Blascoe and Eastern Illinois coach Jason Cherry are long-time acquaintances. Blascoe said he reached out to Cherry after Hunsucker and Ketterhagen’s freshman year.
Blascoe said the two players visited Eastern Illinois late in their sophomore year and committed as juniors.
“I like the campus,” Hunsucker said. “I’m not into really big schools. It’s nice because it’s a smaller school.
“I like that Lexi is going. College can be scary sometimes, and it’s nice to have a friend go with you.”
Eastern Illinois’ enrollment numbers roughly 9,000 students. Hunsucker intends to focus her studies on either education or business. Ketterhagen said she will pursue an academic track that helps her become an orthodontist.
Ketterhagen and seven other members of the Waterford girls soccer team traveled to Northern Ireland June 21 to 29.
St. Catherine’s High School in Racine traveled with the Wolverines with six players. Coaches Ben Lake of St. Catherine’s and Blascoe also went.
In addition to sightseeing at the RMS Titanic museum in Belfast, Giant’s Causeway in the country’s northeast and other locations, the combined team won two matches.
The combined team of Angels and Wolverines beat Carrickfergus 7-0 June 27 in Carrickfergus. Carrickfergus is located in western Northern Ireland.
The Angels and Wolverines beat Carmoney 2-1 June 29 at Carnmoney, which is also in western Northern Ireland.
The second match spawned a tradition Lake and Blascoe said will continue.
“They told me ahead of the game they would have a sandwich reception after the game,” Blascoe said. “They informed me they purchased a cup, a trophy, for the winner of the match, and little individual trophies for the girls as well.”
The mayor and deputy mayor of Carnmoney spoke at the post-match reception, along with Blascoe and Lake.
“It was a huge event for them,” Blascoe said. “It was a great experience for the girls. They took lots of pictures with the other team.”
Blascoe and Lake agreed that each season the girls soccer teams from Waterford and St. Catherine’s will play a game for the cup, and the winner will keep the cup as a traveling trophy.
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