No. 2 Fox Valley Lutheran defeated No. 3 West De Pere 4-0 in the sectional semifinal on Thursday, October 29th.
Both squads got here after close victories in the regional final. FVL had to play No. 7 Cedarburg, who have made matches difficult against top quality opponents. Cedarburg had close, one-goal losses to teams like Hudson, Homestead, and Whitefish Bay. That theme rang true in their regional final, where the Foxes were only able to score once.
West De Pere had to go to a penalty kick shootout to advance to sectionals. They matched up against No. 6 seed West Bend West, where they drew 1-1 in regulation and came out on top with a 4-2 shootout victory.
These teams met earlier in the season. On September 3rd, West De Pere traveled to FVL where the Foxes won that match by a score of 2-1. The postseason rematch was expected to be tight but turned into a blowout.
The Foxes started slowly. West De Pere controlled the majority of possession throughout the first half. However, an FVL counter attack led to a scrappy goal scored by senior forward JJ Minzlaff in the 21st minute.
West De Pere held FVL scoreless during the rest of the first half. The second half was much different. Senior captain Ezra Schaser scored the second goal in the 53rd minute. Sophomore Gavin Reising scored the third in the 63rd minute. Then Schaser completed his brace by scoring the team’s fourth goal in the 67th minute off a tremendous low-driven strike from just outside the box.
“I think we got something really special here,” said Schaser after the game. “This is only the beginning. I’m overjoyed that we finally broke the curse.”
The curse being that the Foxes had not made the sectional final in the previous seven seasons, when they lost 3-0 to Plymouth in 2018. FVL had lost two straight seasons in heartbreaking fashion: a regional final shootout loss in 2024, then a sectional semifinal shootout loss last year. Schaser added that “what got us over the hump was not getting into penalties.”
The way to avoid a similar fate this year is to play a full 80 minutes. Fox Valley Lutheran did just that. Not only was the FVL attack humming, but their defense stood strong through the entirety of the match. Junior goalkeeper Eric Techlin made seven total saves, including a penalty kick save in the dying moments to preserve the shutout.
FVL will have a chance to punch their ticket to state on Saturday, October 31st as they take on No. 4 seed Pulaski at 1:00 p.m. at Kaukauna High School.
Post-match interview with FVL captain Ezra Schaser.
