Fast start propels Appleton United boys lacrosse past Oconomowoc

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – In what was a busy day of boys lacrosse action, Appleton United faced off against the Oconomowoc Raccoons for their second of two games on the day Saturday afternoon at Appleton East High School.

After starting the season 5-0, United entered their game with the Raccoons riding a three-game losing streak, which included an 8-1 loss against Madison Edgewood earlier in Saturday.

Led by a six-goal first quarter. Appleton United used that fast start and never looked back, cruising to a 12-2 win over the Raccoons.

Trevin Schultz and Roen Willis played a massive role in that, combining for nine of the team’s 12 goals in the win.

“Our effort was right where we like it to be,” Appleton head coach Danny Rafalski said. “After losing the first game this morning, it was important to come out hot in this one and we did.”

After struggling to put the ball in the net in the loss to Madison, Appleton didn’t waste any time in this one as it jumped on the Raccoons early and often. It all started with the first of four goals from Willis less than three minutes in as Appleton took a 1-0 lead and never looked back. From there, it was the Schultz show as he scored three consecutive goals for Appleton United in less than three minutes, and just like that, Oconomowoc found themselves in a massive 4-0 hole.

Two of those three goals came less than 30 seconds apart as the Schultz and Willis combination was off and running. Despite trailing by four goals on the scoreboard, Oconomowoc did a great job weathering the storm, and they found a way to battle back to score their first goal of the game, with Mason Leuzinger making it a 4-1 game. That was as close as things would get the rest of the way as Appleton closed out the first quarter with a pair of goals in the final minute, one from Schultz and Willis to make things 6-1 after one.

“Schultz and Willis are two guys who work tirelessly for their squad,” Rafalski said. “When we needed points to get the guys going early in the game, they went out and got them.”

As if one hat trick wasn’t enough for Appleton, why not make it two as Willis continued to build off a strong first 12 minutes, scoring his third goal of the game less than a minute into the second to open up a 7-1 lead. They continued to keep the pressure on the rest of the first half with Jayden Golding and Elliott Olm finding the back of the net to give Appleton a 9-1 lead at the half.

While the first half was all about the offense for Appleton, the second half was about the defense, as neither team could get much done. Take the third quarter as the prime example of that as Willis picked up his fourth and final goal of the afternoon with just over a minute to play and extended the Appleton lead to 10-1.

Then came the fourth, where Oconomowoc not only came out with some pep in their step, but ended a 30-plus minute scoreless drought with Jake Stefczak putting home the second and final goal of the day past Kellan Murphy to make it 10-2.

Rafalski loved the way the defense played start to finish as Appleton did a great job limiting the shot attempts.

“Our defense has been the core of our team both on and off the field,” he said. “Dominating our matchups and minimizing quality looks through communication and positioning as working well for us in this game.”

That goal seemed to awaken the Appleton offense once again with Schultz cashing in for his first goal of the second half and fifth of the game, less than a minute later to stretch the lead to 11-2. Appleton picked up the final goal with just under two minutes to play as Tristan Dean fought through some traffic, got to the loose ball, and managed to muscle it in to close out a dominating 12-2 win.

Appleton (6-3) hosts De Pere/West De Pere for a Bay Valley Conference game Monday at 8 p.m. at Appleton East. Appleton sits tied with Kimberly for first place in the conference at 3-0.

United 12, Racoons 2
Oconomowoc   1   0   0   1   –   2
Appleton   6   3   1   2   –   12
First quarter: 1. A, Roen Willis, 9:35; 2. A, Trevin Schultz, 7:47; 3. A, Schultz, 6:47; 4. A, Schultz, 6:19; 5. O, Mason Leuzinger, 5:10; 6. A, Schultz, 1:01; 7. A, Willis, 0:35.
Second quarter: 8. A, Willis, 11:35; 9. A, Jadyen Golding, 8:14; 10. A, Elliot Olm, 1:12.
Third quarter: 11. A, Willis, 1:11.
Fourth quarter: 12. O, Jake Stefczak, 9:16; 13. A, Schultz, 8:56; 14. A, Tristan Dean, 2:17.
Records: Oconomowoc 3-2; Appleton 6-3.