Cyclones advance to second round of Regional Play
In the second half of Wednesday’s First Round Regional Tournament Game at Merrill Field with the HCHS Cyclones girls soccer team leading 2-1 against the Kuemper Catholic Knights, Sophomore Cyclone Carly Torneten was able to easily knock in a goal with Knights goalkeeper Brianna Wittrock coming out and away from the net little too far. The Cyclones would hang on for a 3-1 win advancing to the second round.
“It feels great to not have my season be over yet,” said Senior Hailey Good. “I was scared going into it, but everybody kept their heads together, we did a good job I’d say. It was pretty fun.”
Both teams were quiet on offense to open the game. That changed when the Cyclones leading scorer, Aubrey Schwieso, got her team on the board with a goal to give them their first lead of the game and her 18th goal of the season.
“I had a really good through ball,” Schwieso said. “We work really well off of those. Just kind of out running the defense, and then working around that goalie. Once we get that first goal, I think we’re feeling a lot more confident and comfortable. I think we saw that on the field after we scored those next ones.”
Towards the end of the first half, Good gave some cushion to the Cyclones when she was sent to the line for a penalty kick, which she snuck in past Wittrock who dove just out of reach, giving the Cyclones a 2-0 lead, and her 10th of the season.
With just a 2-0 lead at halftime, Cyclone head coach Jared Boysen gathered his team together for a strong message.
“Just keep digging deep,” Torneten said. “We knew coming in, it was going to be a tough one, especially after our last game. We needed to keep our heads up, being aggressive on offense, staying on their feet on defense, not letting them get any shots or passes.”
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, the Knights got themselves on the board with a goal that was knocked in out of the reach of Junior goalkeeper Grace Albertsen, but a few minutes later, Torneten got that goal right back, her 10th of the season, putting her team up 3-1.
“Kayla Anderson and I have been running some good through balls down the line, and I think I was able to capitalize on one of them,” Torneten added. “Unfortunately the ball was a little slick, so I kind of capitalized by a mistake on the defender, and was able to get around the goalie.”
The Cyclones with this win advance to the Second Round of Regional Play where they will take on the 15-2 Treynor Cardinals Tuesday on the road at 7 p.m. The Cardinals are led by Claire Schrage with 15 goals and nine assists, along with goalkeeper Zoey Zadalis with 103 saves.
“They’re a strong team,” Boysen said of Treynor. “Their defense is really strong, they haven’t given up more than two goals all season. We’re going to have to find our opportunities on offense. We’re also going to have to play a lot of defense and I think we can take some confidence from this one.”
