The Bluejay soccer team closed the gap on a pair of Valley opponents last week, then worked a tie and a close loss in Saturday’s Wausau West Invite.
The Jays played within a 2-0 contest of Wis. Rapids at home last Tuesday, then fell 6-0 at Wausau West on Thursday after trailing 2-0 at intermission.
Returning to West on Saturday, Merrill dropped a 3-0 game to Waupaca, then worked a 1-1 tie with Ashwaubenon.
Rapids is tied for third in conference at 2-1-2, but Merrill made the Raiders work for their victory. Noah Gust finally scored in the 34th minute, and he netted a Rey Barcenas assist in the 70th minute for some breathing room.
“I saw a lot of improvement,” MHS coach Luis Mendoza said. “I think we did a great job of containing the ball and cutting off their passes. They’re a great team so for them to only score two goals on us is obviously good.”
The Jays’ Trent Rathke made 9 saves, while Rapids’ Wes Plowman stopped 3 shots on goal. The Raiders out-shot Merrill 14-11 overall.
Warrior clash
Rathke came up with 23 saves in Thursday’s contest. The Warriors, tied with Rapids at 2-1-2, peppered 43 shots at Merrill while holding the Jays to just five shots.
“We did a pretty good job in the first half,” Mendoza said. “Our passes weren’t very great in the second half, and Brian Root wasn’t 100%. That was a big loss.
“There’ve been some ups and downs, but the guys are working hard and improving. They want to win, but we’re in a really, really competitive conference and we have a young team.”
West fest
Waupaca pushed Merrill right from the start of Saturday’s opener.
“They were pretty skilled,” MHS assistant Erich Wallace said. “We came out slow and they scored a couple of crosses in the first half.”
The Bluejays worked a tie with Ashwaubenon in large part due to Austin Burgener’s goal in the 50th minute and a late penalty-kick save with Keenan Stellingworth in goal.
“We’re pretty evenly-matched with them,” Wallace said. “Austin ran onto a free ball and scored a one-touch goal inside the 18.
“That’s a good pressure save from Keenan. Trent was feeling a little sick and Keenan wanted to play goal.”