Walsh scores early, often to beat W.B.

By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BELOIT -- The first 20 minutes of Wednesday's Division II district semifinal soccer game must have made West Branch High goalie Rachael Kocher feel like a maitre d' at a revolving door.
Facing Walsh Jesuit, last year's state champion, Kocher seemed to be dodging shots every two minutes as Walsh took an early 5-0 lead that held the rest of the game. Walsh (17-1-1) advanced to Saturday's district championship, while West Branch finished with a record of 8-9-2.
"We really had no strategy coming in," Walsh coach Dino McIntyre said. "We just wanted to play them straight up and I felt we were prepared."
First goal: Walsh captain Kristen Wiess wasted little time, scoring on an assist from Kristin May at the 35:33 mark. Moments later, Wiess came up with a nifty head shot, which hit the top of the crossbar.
Wiess scored twice more, giving Walsh a 3-0 lead at the 6:03 mark, and Walsh added two more goals to make it 5-0 at halftime.
"Player for player, I knew they were better than us," said West Branch coach Joe DeMay. "But athlete for athlete, we thought we could match up against them."
Walsh had 15 shots in the first half, compared to just one for West Branch. Walsh also held a 6-0 edge in corner kicks.
"They're quick and we had to step to the ball and double it," said Kocher, who finished her career with 29 shutouts. "In the second half, we did that well. If we would have played like we did in the second half, it would have been a good game."
West Branch, which played 13 teams with a winning record this season, managed just two shots in the second half compared to 11 for Walsh.
West Branch seemed unable to get on track right from the start as almost the entire first half was played from its defensive end.
Still, DeMay lauded the play of Kocher, saying, "She's worked hard for us for four years and she was solid again in the second half."