PdC/River Ridge/Seneca girls soccer team starts new season with win, draw
The Prairie du Chien / Seneca girls soccer team started off the 2024 season with a match at La Crosse Logan/Onalaska Luther on Tuesday, March 26 in blistering cold conditions.
The temperature at kick off, with wind chill, logged in at a frigid 21 degrees.
Despite the challenging conditions, the Hawks cruised to a 3-0 victory.
The game started out rocky, with a foul called against the Hawks in the early minutes of the game, giving La Crosse Logan/Onalaska Luther a penalty kick. Junior goalkeeper Ava Forde came up big with a fantastic stop, keeping the score 0-0.
Play continued evenly, with the teams battling for 25 minutes without a goal. That changed in the 26th minute, when the Hawks were awarded a corner kick. Junior Emilee Snyder took that kick and sailed a perfect ball into the box, which was expertly headed by junior Tessa Czajkowski Higgins into the goal making the score 1-0 Hawks. Three minutes later, Czajkowski Higgins shook free of the defense in the midfield and nailed a shot from outside the penalty box, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead going into halftime.
The second half was relatively quiet, with no scoring for the majority of the half. As the clock ticked down, Czajkowski Higgins struck a long ball from midfield, which junior Jasmine Olmstead ran down and tapped into the back of the net for the final goal of the game. That last second goal resulted in a 3-0 win for the Hawks and Forde’s first shut-out of the season.
The Hawks’ attack looked solid, with contributions from Addy Kirschbaum, Haley Elsinger, Hannah Fritsche, Allison Mathies, and Autumn Ziegler. Contributing on the defensive end were Hannah Dudgeon, Addee Torgerson, Kaylie Kruk, Breanna Dudgeon, and Serena Corelli.
The Hawks began their home schedule two nights later, welcoming SWC opponent Galena/East Dubuque to town with the match ending in a 2-2 draw. The Hawks will return to action this Friday when they host Dodgeville/Mineral Point.
