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Wisconsin Selects complete successful fall season

By Michael Cowan, Contributor, 11/15/20, 6:30AM CST

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Team will defend its Central District championship of 2019 in Omaha in March

The Wisconsin Selects U-19 Tier II team completed its fall season with an impressive 17-2-5 record. The team played seven games in the Twin Cities Dynamo Prep League with a 2-1-4 mark.  Three of the four ties were 0-0 contests. The lone loss was to the Omaha Lady Lancers. That loss was avenged in the championship game of the South Dakota tournament in October when the Selects downed the Lancers 5-2.

With the Chicago teams not playing this fall, the Selects were fortunate to pick up six games against the three Wisconsin U-18 teams. These were very competitive games against regional pre & post high school players. Wisconsin is fortunate to have a large group of quality high school age players.

The Wisconsin Selects team is composed of twenty skaters representing 14 separate high school programs from throughout the state. Senior Abby Okon (Beaver Dam) and sophomore Chloe Lemke (CW Storm) were solid in the net. They usually split most games and were consistently in the game especially in the scoreless ties.

The defenders included Kalie (Sr.) and Kennedy (So.) Gruhlke from the ECA Stars, Shelby Tryba (Sr.) WVUnion, Dru Sabatke (Jr.) CW Storm, and sophomores Ella Spies (FDL Warbirds) and Jaden Hammes (Onalaska).

Leading scorers for the team were seniors Allie Kieffer (Northland Pines) and Sydney Schipper (Stoughton Icebergs). A solid group of forwards complemented these two including seniors- Jordan Bonk (University School coop), Paige Ruppert (ECA Stars), and Ava Jambor (Metro Lynx). Junior forwards are Lexie Hagen (Black River Falls coop), Samantha Federici and Gabrielle DuVair (CW Storm), Shannon Dwyer (Arrowhead). Sophomores are Rachel Robbins (Cap City Cougars), Emma-Lyn Stephenson (Chippewa Falls) and Logan Crawford (CW Storm). Federici often played with Kieffer and Schipper which led to several key goals.

The team concluded its fall season winning two of three games from the Northern Michigan K-Stars, one of the top Tier !! teams in Michigan. Those wins placed the team #4 in the national Tier II U19 rankings. Two of those games were played in Eagle River’s iconic and historic dome.

The team is capably coached by Megan Bailey and veteran Hall of Fame coach Steve Kirley. Coach Kirley pointed out that, "The compete level of the whole group elevated as the schedule progressed. The Selects got a lot better at finding quick transitions to offense and making great plays to score timely goals.  The team progressed with being pretty accountable coming back defensively as well.  Head coach Bailey relates well with the players, and everyone has fun."

Next up, the team will defend its Central District championship of 2019 in Omaha in March.


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