This story is sponsored by Victory Apparel
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Scoring goals has been a problem all season for the Marshfield boys soccer team and playing without top scorer Matt McCann on Thursday against Stevens Point Area Senior High didn’t help.
Jordan Krush scored 2:34 into the game and the goal held up as SPASH shutout Marshfield 1-0 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference finale for both teams on Thursday at Griese Park.
The Tigers scored one goal of less in 10 of their 12 WVC games and finish the regular season with a 6-14-2 record and a 3-7-2 mark in the Valley. SPASH improves to 5-5-2 in the conference and 8-8-4 overall.
“It’s coming together, but it just comes down to the fact that we don’t put the ball in the back of the net,” Marshfield coach Ron Todryk said. “We have to score – that’s been our crutch the past two seasons. We’ll get Matt McCann back in the midfield with the start of the playoffs. Our play is fantastic, it’s our finishing. We have to get somebody to put the ball in.”
Marshfield had numerous opportunities to score, especially in the second half, but got only four shots on goal, all of which were saved by senior goalkeeper David Tuchinsky.
The best chance came with a little over 5 minutes left when Eli Oba took a long pass and had a one-on-one opportunity with Tuchinsky, but sailed it high by about 2 feet.
Marshfield heads into the WIAA playoffs as a No. 14 seed and will play at No. 3 Wausau East, the Wisconsin Valley Conference champions, at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
East handed the Tigers their two worst losses of the season – 7-1 on Aug. 28 and 6-0 on Sept. 20.
“We’re going to have to stack the defense,” Todryk said. “They play through-ball and they have played together for years and years. I was talking to their coach and they have been playing together for 10 years, they know what each other does. We have to break up that rhythm somehow. We have to stay back on defense so they can’t beat us on those one-on-ones.”
Panthers 1, Tigers 0
Stevens Point 1 0 – 1
Marshfield 0 0 – 0
First half: 1. SP, Jordan Krush, 2:34.