By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
On Tuesday, Oct. 16, the Merrill boys soccer team played in the first round of the playoffs, traveling to top seeded Green Bay Southwest. Merrill played hard, however would fall short in a 3-0 loss.
“GBSW was a talented team with good speed, technical ability, and a strong defense,” comments Merrill head coach Erich Wallace. “We held them 0-0 for about 30 minutes when a cross from the corner came in quickly that our defenders couldn’t get a foot on and a GBSW players was there to finish. We let one more in before half time to go into the half 2-0.”
In the second half Merrill held Green Bay to only one more goal. “We had some opportunities, but GB’s speed at defense made it difficult to get much going offensively. They only lost two games all season in a difficult Fox Valley conference and I thought our Bluejays played them well,” adds coach Wallace.
Coach Wallace then wrapped up his comments talking about his team, “This was a pretty impressive group of young men to work with. I would bet our goals against this year were among the lowest in Merrill history as we only lost by more than five goals one time. We had chances to score in almost all of our games and put in some goals on difficult conference teams. There is a lot of young talent coming up, but our 10 graduating seniors have left some big shoes to fill as well. I think the boys are looking forward to getting after it in the weight room in the off season and start the Sunday indoor soccer league this winter.”
The Jays finished the year with a record of 2-14-3, and a conference record of 0-12.