KIMBERLY (NBC 26) — For the second straight year, Kimberly is headed to the WIAA state tournament. And once again, the Papermakers will face Muskego, the team that beat them in last year’s Division 1 championship game.
Kimberly opened this season against the defending champs and lost 5-0. Head coach Andrew Sutton said there were no excuses that day — just a team still finding its identity.
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“We just got our butts kicked,” Sutton said. “There were no referee issues, there were no excuses, it wasn’t a bad night for weather.”
The Papermakers graduated nine seniors and seven starters from last year’s state runner-up team. With a roster full of fresh faces and balanced scoring, Sutton said this year’s team has a totally different feel.
“Last year we had two girls combine for over 70 goals,” he said. “This year, I think we’ve scored about 45 or 50, and it’s come from all different places. We have a handful of girls that have anywhere from five to 10 goals.”
The team’s strength, Sutton said, has come from chemistry, grit and buy-in from all grade levels.
“They believe in how I want them to play,” he said. “It took a while to get there. When you ask a bunch of kids who a year ago were in eighth grade to now play some of the best teams in the state, there’s a learning curve. But they’ve just been gritty. They leave it all on the field every game.”
Junior defender Skyler Brey said Kimberly didn’t enter the season with big expectations. The focus early on was simply to win conference and build trust across a new roster.
“We were just talking about winning your games, working together, getting to know each other,” Brey said. “Once we started winning those conference games, we sat down and said, OK. We're winning. We’re playing well. Now we want to make a run again.”
Brey said existing relationships built through club soccer helped the younger players settle into varsity roles quickly, and a strong team culture became the foundation.
“We built those relationships,” she said. “We play our passes, we play our game, defending as a group and offensively as a group. I'm going to work 110% for you, and you're going to work 110% for me.”
Now, as they prepare for Thursday’s rematch with top-seeded Muskego, Brey said Kimberly is embracing the underdog mentality.
“We want them to look down and think, ‘We beat Kimberly 5-0,’ so we can go in and show them we’re not the same team,” she said. “We don’t think we’ve had Muskego’s respect yet. But we’re ready to earn it.”
No. 4 seed Kimberly and unbeaten No. 1 seed Muskego will meet in the Division 1 semifinals Thursday at 11 a.m. in Milwaukee.
