Hamilton Girls Fall to Homestead in Regional Soccer

The season-ending game was particularly disheartening for the Hamilton girls soccer team.

The Chargers were held without a shot on goal and ended up losing to Homestead, 1-0, in a regional final contest Saturday afternoon at Homestead High School. But coach Tom Konkol tried to put things in perspective when he met with his players immediately after the game.

“I’m really so proud of our team and our season,” Konkol said. “Last year we had a really good season, but we didn’t get as far. This year, we came through in the toughest conference games and we finished third in the conference. That’s the highest finish we’ve ever had.”

They finished with a 15-4-1 record overall and 4-2-1 in the Greater Metro Conference. Leading the way for the Chargers this season was senior forward-midfielder Kirsten Anderson, who scored 15 goals with eight assists this season. Senior forward-midfielder Jen Jobke finished with 14 goals and 11 assists for Hamilton.

Hamilton was unable to put together any sustained effort offensively against the second-seeded Highlanders. Homestead dominated the action in the first half, but the Chargers hung tough and the game was scoreless at halftime.

Homestead’s junior midfielder Molly Hobbs hit a booming shot into the net in the 41st minute for the game’s only score.  “They hit a tough shot,” Konkol said. “But I’ve got to give credit to Homestead, they definitely dominated possession of the ball. That was not a savable goal. We have a tall keeper and she couldn’t get to the ball.”

The Highlanders, who had five shots on goal, improved to 18-1-2 for the season.

The inability to put any pressure on the Highlanders was certainly disappointing.

“We had some chances, but in this game, you need more than just a few chances,” Konkol said.

Konkol, who has been with the Hamilton girls program on and off since the early 1980s, says the program overall  is the best it has ever been.  And he credits his players’ work ethic  

“These guys really train hard,” Konkol said. “They play club soccer and they work out in the winter doing weight training and agility drills. That’s probably been the biggest difference. When you have kids that want to be better, those are the kinds of things that they know they need to do.”

Homestead will face North Shore Conference rival Cedarburg in a sectional semifinal game Thursday afternoon.

Cedarburg 2, Brookfield Central 1: The Bulldogs, who were down by a goal, scored twice in a two-minute span to come away with the victory at Homestead. Cedarburg improved its record to 14-3-1. Central finished its season at 15-6-2.

Junior forward Sarah Baker scored her seventh goal of the season in the ninth minute to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead. Sophomore midfielder Josee Stiever  tied the game with a goal in the 28th minute, then assisted on a goal by sophomore midfielder Taylor Skorik less than two minutes later.