The Middleton Cardinals rounded out the first six games of their season with a road trip win against one Illinois’ top ranked teams.
In a hard-fought match against the Lake Forest High School Scouts (currently tied for first place atop the competitive North Suburban conference), the Cardinals notched a 10-9 victory that featured hat tricks from junior midfielder Parker Leslie and sophomore attackman Arjay Johnson.
The weekend game also marked freshman defender Oliver Wenning’s first varsity start as Ollie joined older brother Gus and Gavin Gall to hold off a late game push by the Scouts to bring the Cardinals’ overall record to 3 wins and 3 losses. There are now thirteen games left in the regular season.
Within the Big Badger conference, the Cardinals have a 1-1 record so far, reflecting a 21-3 victory over DeForest on March 20 and a 7-9 loss to Waunakee at home on April 13.
Against the Waunakee Warriors on Thursday night, the Cardinals offense had trouble breaking through and the Cardinal defense was inconsistent. Facing Lake Forest on Saturday afternoon, the team had clearly made some necessary adjustments, scoring four goals in the first quarter, including a run of 3 goals in 3 minutes to answer the Scouts’ first goal, and turning in a strong defensive performance that pushed back several attempted rallies by the Scouts.
Middleton led 7-6 at the half and held on to the lead for the rest of the game, despite a series of 3 goals from Lake Forest midway through the fourth quarter.
The road trip win tees up a Wednesday night home game against Oregon. Middleton faced Oregon in the state quarterfinals last year, ending the Cardinals’ 2022 run at the state championship.
The Season So Far
Warren Township (IL) 9 – Middleton 8
DeForest 3 – Middleton 21
Mukwonago 8 – Middleton 11
Wheaton (IL) Academy 14 – Middleton 6
Waunakee 9 – Middleton 7
Lake Forest (IL) 9 – Middleton 10
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