Milwaukee-area boys soccer preview: New-look Whitefish Bay continues to carry lofty expectations
Mission accomplished.
That could be the final thought on the 2017 Whitefish Bay boys soccer team, the guys who stormed through the season undefeated and climbed the No. 2 spot in the USA Today/United Soccer Coaches rankings. Those players didn’t just want to win state, they wanted to leave an impression.
“We always try to put Wisconsin on the map. When everyone thinks about high school soccer in Wisconsin it’s Marquette,” Bay coach Rob Dubinski said. “The goal of last year’s team was they wanted to put Whitefish Bay back on the map and that’s what they did.”
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However, it wasn’t until earlier this month that you could truly fully grasp how good a job those Blue Dukes did. The national rankings debuted and there was the three-time defending Division 2 state champion, minus a handful of stars from last year, sitting at No. 5.
The Blue Dukes, which lack star power at the moment, still carry a lot of clout.
On Tuesday, Bay begins to turn its promise into production. The high school season begins and the Blue Dukes open the week with a challenging slate of games that start with Elkhorn, one of the favorites of the Southern Lakes, on the road Tuesday followed by defending Division 3 state champion Mount Horeb at home Thursday. The Blue Dukes wrap up the week with Greater Metro-tough Wauwatosa East at home Saturday.
Add an early showdown with Classic 8 favorite Kettle Moraine at the Gusho Showcase on Sept. 1 and Bay’s early schedule is filled with teams talented enough to make a statement against a nationally-ranked side.
“To be 100% honest, I wasn’t thrilled by (the ranking) because it puts so much pressure on these guys,” Dubinski said. “Ever though we have 12 seniors on this team, we’re relatively a young team. It’s something that coming out of the gate is a lot of pressure.”
Consider it part of the gift and the curse of being in such a high-profile position.
There is an element of high expectations and perhaps pressure for a team in this position, but there are plenty of doors that open, too. Most often it comes in the form of showcase events that bring together elite teams, the kinds of matches that can further entrench a program on a national scale. ... if it wins.
Last year Bay played in the Go 4 The Goal Classic in Illinois and won two games. This year the team is scheduled to play the three-day event in Burlington, Iowa.
To see how far a school can take it, just look at Marquette’s schedule.
The Hilltoppers, who are ranked 13th by USA Today, have evolved into playing a handful of national-type matches each year. And in the process of playing teams from different parts of the country, Marquette has a litmus test of how other programs are regarded.
“it’s interesting because if you ever look at the Top Drawer soccer rankings, they’ll have us in there and the comment for Marquette is ‘probably one of the most important teams in the rankings’ since we played teams that range from Colorado all the way to the East Coast ...," Marquette coach Steve Lawrence said.
“We’ve kind of put ourselves on the map," he added. "The hardest part is that the national rankings are fun, but how do you keep the focus on in the end, the main goal is to win a state championship.”
That’s the focus of Bay this season. Last year it became just the second program in WIAA history to win three straight titles. A fourth title in a row would give it a streak two years longer than any other program in state history except Marquette, which is going for a fifth straight in Division 1.
How might it happen?
When you look at this year’s Blue Dukes, you start with defense. Senior Sam Marx, a bruising defender, is the team’s only all-state or all-conference player back. He’ll be joined in the back by senior goalkeeper Nick Chiappa, a Division I prospect who Dubinski believes would have been a four-year starter at most programs. At Bay, he played behind All-American Elian Haddock.
Offensively, the tandem of national player of the year Matt Comiskey and all-state pick Jackson Dryden will be replaced by seniors Andrew Brousseau and Jimmy Zebell, the team’s top returning scorers with 18 and 16 points, respectively while senior Nick Baniukiewicz will man the midfield.
In all Whitefish Bay has 12 returning varsity players, guys who had the benefit of practicing against one of the nation’s top teams last year.
They might not be big names yet, but they’ve got a couple of months to work on that.
“Some of my top reserves off the bench for last year’s team are guys that are back, so we have experience," Dubinski said. "There are guys who have played on the varsity for two, three, and then we have one guy, Sam Marx, for four. It's just getting them on the field and getting them used to playing with each other and seeing what we have."