Hawks grab first win of the season
MUKWANAGO - Coming off a heartbreaking 1-0 fluke loss at the hands of defending Division 2 State Champion Slinger, the Grafton Black Hawk's schedule did not get any easier Friday night in at the Mukwanago Invite, with a first round game against Division 1 power Madison East. The Purgolders advanced all the way to the sectional final last season, losing 1-0 to Madison Memorial and falling just one game shy of the State Tournament. This night would feature two 30 minute halves on the JV field at Mukwanago High School. Madison East got the scoring started off early when only eight minutes into the game Tyrone Creech ripped a shot from Wes Braga off the far post and in the goal past goalkeeper Matt King. That would be the last Purgolder goal of the game as with just three minutes remaining in the first half, Brian Galbraith drew a foul inside the penalty area for a penalty kick. Galbraith would convert the oppportunity and draw the match even at 1-1 going into halftime. The match would see plenty of cards thrown around. The Black Hawks were shown the yellow card three times in the match, Matt Solverson in the 29th minute, Spencer Bursten in the 43rd minute, and Brandon Smart in the 48th minute. The Purgolders would recieve two cards in the game, Charlie Shimeall had a yellow pointed his direction in the 43rd minute, and Ben Van Ryzin was ejected with a straight red card in the 51st minute for abusive language directed at the official. Also in the 51st minute, Grafton would take their first lead of the game when Miles Mayer played a ball into Bursten, who ripped a shot that bounced off the crossbar right to the waiting feet of Patrick Schmalz, who softly touched the ball into the side netting with the inside of the foot to give the Black Hawks the lead for good. Grafton improves to 1-1-0 on the year, and advances to play Mukwanago tomorrow morning at 10:00 am. Grafton should recieve some offensive help with the return of senior Kevin Carlson, who was suspended the first two games of the season. The winner of the semi-final games at 10:00 advance to the Championship game at 3:00 pm.
