Fall Athletics Review
Volleyball
The Immanuel Varsity Volleyball team ended their season with a final record of 25-9 (9-1 Dairyland Conference). It was a great two months on the hardwood this fall for the Lady Lancers squad. The 9-1 conference record included a 4-1 mark on the road (5-0 at home), the lone loss coming to conference champion Cochrane-Fountain City.
The team went on to take two matches at home in the first rounds of the playoffs, including a 4-set thriller comeback victory against the Bruce Red Raiders in the Regional Semifinal. The ILHS squad dropped the first set after going to extra points, 26-28. They then proceeded to control the second set and took it 25-21. Down 15-24 in the third set, it seemed as if the Lancers would have to make a comeback from being down 1-2 in sets. Linsey Sydow had other ideas. The freshman served successfully on nine Bruce set points and her teammates followed her lead taking all nine to knot it up at 24. Sydow’s streak was then broken but ILHS took the next three points to win the set, 27-25. In my own personal experience, it was the greatest volleyball comeback I’ve ever seen. From there momentum was all with the team in green. They took the fourth, and the match 3 sets to 1.
It was a fantastic night in our fieldhouse. The Bruce fans brought their A-game to our gym and created a great atmosphere along with the Lancer faithful. The comebacks and excellent play of our Lady Lancers made October 20, 2016, a night to remember.
The Lancers were faced with a tough opponent in the Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association’s #2-ranked Division 4 team in the state at the time, McDonell Central Catholic. The season ended with a 0-3 sets loss to the Macks in the Regional Final up in Chippewa Falls. The teams have met in three consecutive Regional Finals; McDonell won the first and third, while Immanuel won in five sets in 2015.
Soccer
With fewer games on the schedule this year (10 games on eight dates), ILHS’s soccer team couldn’t quite recreate last year’s magic of an 11-2 record, finishing 3-4-3 this season. Adam Fiechtner led the team in goals and James Schaser played stellar in his first season in net. Sam Oster, Jesse Wilke, Megan Johnston, Nathan Lang, Ben Oster, and Gabe Plath were a strong defense on a team who had struggles scoring. Sean Lillo had the lone header goal on the year, Joey Bailey scored two goals and Joel Frank played a solid defensive midfield spot. Christian Kazemba, Micah Bade, and Anthony Garibay had good freshman seasons, improving much throughout the year.
The team finished the season on a high note. They hadn’t scored more than two goals in any game until their final game of the year against Altoona’s JV. Nine goals were scored by “Immanuel F.C.,” including a double hat-trick by Fiechtner (6 goals), two scored by Troyal Mayhew, and one by Soster.
It has been a pleasure to be a part of that team for the past two years, and with only three seniors leaving the squad returns almost their entire roster. They will surely have new freshmen to play next season. The future looks bright for ILHS soccer.