Soccer Cards hope for playoff run
Mary Duffy knows the challenges that await are immense.
Middleton’s girls soccer coach, though, likes that her team is entering the postseason with a two-game winning streak.
The Cardinals received the No. 5 seed in their half of the WIAA Division 1 sectional and began the playoffs Tuesday with a regional semifinal contest at Verona. The winner of that game advanced to a regional final Saturday at top-seeded Waunakee.
The sectional semifinals are June 17 and the sectional finals are June 19.
When Middleton and Verona met last month, they played in a downpour and through heavy winds. The Wildcats won that contest, 5-3.
“With any luck, we can play under and blue sky instead of piercing wind and rain, work together with our team defense and create our dangerous attack,” Duffy said. “It should be a good match up with two quality teams playing in the first game of the postseason instead of the second game.”
Middleton heads to the playoffs with a bit of steam after defeating Sun Prairie, 3-2, on June 1 and toppling Janesville Craig, 4-0, on June 2. Those wins helped the Cardinals finish the regular season 7-5-2 overall.
Middleton’s win over Sun Prairie came on Senior Night and the Cardinals honored 10 girls including Victoria Bunz, Alaina Malak, Anna Mintz, Ella D'Orazio, Ainsley Casper, Jessica Mael, Caroline Kruchten, Chloe Boehnen, Annika Hallquist and Ava Jambor.
“We started all 10 of our seniors and moved players around to play in different positions to do so and it worked out fantastically well,” Duffy said.
While the spotlight was on Middleton’s seniors, a sophomore led them on this night.
Sophomore Marley Mladucky scored all three Middleton goals to power MHS past Sun Prairie.
“Malducky was on fire,” Duffy said.
Sun Prairie struck for a goal in the fifth minute. Amazingly, Mladucky then scored the next three goals to give Middleton a 3-1 lead over a Sun Prairie team that entered the night undefeated in the Big Eight Conference.
“The team played with intensity not seen yet this season and were driven by the cheering from the bench,” Duffy said. “It was truly a team effort.
“We needed every single person from the bench to the field to help with our intensity and composure on the field.”
In the 20th minute, Mladucky muscled her way past Sun Prairie’s last defender and placed the ball in the back of the net to tie the game, 1-1.
It stayed that way until the 61st minute when Bunz received a ball as a wing back and launched a long pass up the sideline to a streaking Mladucky. Mladucky scooped up the pass, rounded the corner of the Sun Prairie defensive line and perfectly placed it into the side netting to give Middleton a 2-1 lead.
Then in the 72nd minute, Malak received a pass from the wing midfielder and placed a through ball to Mladucky, who once again toe poked the shot around the keeper and marking defender to give Middleton a 3-1 lead.
Sun Prairie scored in the 84th minute, but Middleton held on for its biggest win of the year.
“It was by far our best game and the game that we had been waiting for,” Duffy said. “It’s something we knew that we could do and wanted the girls to play out to know that they could also play at a higher level. It was a great win to start the week and give us momentum going into the playoffs.”
Middleton followed that with a dismantling of host Craig the following night.
Bunz put the Cardinals on the board shortly before halftime. Then in the second half, Mladucky, Devan Utter and Dalina Jonuzi all scored.
Casper had four saves and posted the shutout.
“After playing such an intense game less than 24 hours earlier, it was evident we were still recovering from that game, but had the game very much in hand,” Duffy said. “It took us a bit longer to convert our chances … but the second half was a barrage of opportunities.”
June 1
MIDDLETON 3, SUN PRAIRIE 2
Sun Prairie …………… 1 1 — 2
Middleton ……………. 1 2 — 3
First half — SP: Hansen (Langhars), 4:27; M: Mladucky (Kasel) 19:56. Second half — M: Mladucky (Bunt), 60:18; Mladucky (Malak), 71:08; SP: Endres, 83:30;
Saves: SP (Buenger) 5, (Schellpfeffer) 6; M (Rajpal) 4. At Firefighters Park, Middleton.
June 2
MIDDLETON 4, JANESVILLE CRAIG 0
Middleton ………… 1 3 — 4
Janesville Craig …….. 0 0 — 0
First half — Bunz (Malak), 45:00.
Second half — Mladucky (Malak), 64:00; Utter (Boehnen), 77:00; Jonuzi (Boehnen), 82:00.
Saves: M (Casper) 4; JC (Trapp) 13.
