Tandem Friends’ 2-0 victory over Highland Friday may look like a simple, solid wih 4 for the Badgers. But that final well understates the dominance Tandem had on the game.
Try 22 Tandem shots to Highland’s two. That paints a little more lucid picture of the Badgers near flawless performance in the VISAA semifinals. Tandem possessed the ball throughout the match and in turn punched its ticket to a third straight state final and a chance to defend its 2010 state title on the pitch.
“It was beautiful — this is the kind of game I’ve been trying to prepare them for all year and it came together today,” said Tandem coach Brian Williams. “It was beautiful and as a coach I’m really proud of what I saw.”
The Badgers will take on Trinity-Meadow View in a rematch of the 2010 final.
Tandem executed as well as it has all year. Beyond just possessing the ball with the intent of shortening the game, the Badgers created chance after chance as they unleash a flurry of shots. Leci Irvin broke through with about eight minutes left in the first half to put Tandem up 1-0 and that became the gamewinner as Highland failed to really threaten throughout the second half. The Badgers just swung the ball back and forth and remained patient.
“We usually have trouble switching the field smoothly but today I think we had the right mindset,” Irvin said. “We were able to switch it back and forth and create different angles of attack which really helped us.”
It didn’t hurt that senior captain Leah Foley and the rest of the Tandem defense pushed up and did a terrific job of reversing the ball whenever Highland appeared on the verge of pushing the ball past the defensive midfield and into the offensive zone. Foley dominated the right side, keeping the ball inside and helping Tandem keep its shape while swinging the ball to either side.
“We could switch it to places where there weren’t players and obviously we had a ton of shots, so it was definitely working for us,” Irvin said.
Peyton Oliver-Smith scored an insurance goal on a long, winding run that put the game away late in the second half. And while Highland managed a couple of deep runs in the closing minutes, Tandem’s defense turned them away easily.
Now the Badgers get the chance to notch the school’s second ever state title and the squad’s second straight against Trinity at 8 p.m. Saturday.
“Hopefully tomorrow we can do this exact same thing,” Williams said.
