The dynasty is back.
Milwaukee Marquette joined the WIAA in 2000, and that year, the Hilltoppers won the Division 1 state boys soccer championship. Marquette has returned to the state field every year since, winning six championships and earning runner-up honors twice.
When the state tournament returns this week to the Uihlein Soccer Complex (located on Good Hope Rd., just east of 76th St.), the Hilltoppers will be back again, going for a second straight championship.
Marquette (17-4-2), the state's top-ranked team, qualified Saturday by virtue of a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory over Whitefish Bay. The Hilltoppers fell behind just 6 minutes into the match and rallied despite the absence of six regular players, out due to illness or injury.
Arrowhead, which hasn't been to state since 2004, will be the Hilltoppers' opponent in their state quarterfinal game, set for 5 p.m. Thursday at Uihlein. The Warhawks beat Brookfield Central, 2-0.
In the last of four Division 1 quarterfinal games set for Thursday, Muskego will take on Kenosha Tremper. Muskego downed Madison La Follette, 2-0, to improve to 24-1-1. Tremper (22-1-3) beat Lake Geneva Badger in overtime, 2-1, as Matt Vecchitto scored both Tremper goals.
Also representing the area in the Division 1 field will be Hartford, which beat Neenah in a penalty-kick shootout, 3-2, after the teams played to a 1-1 tie through regulation and two overtime periods. Hartford will take on Madison Memorial at 2 p.m. Thursday. The first quarterfinal on Thursday, set for noon, pits Eau Claire Memorial and De Pere.
Division 1 semifinals will be played at 5 and 7 p.m. Friday.
In Division 2, Catholic Memorial will represent the area after beating Port Washington, 2-0, on Saturday. The Crusaders will meet Madison Edgewood at noon Friday in a semifinal, followed by a 2 p.m. semifinal between Sparta and Fox Valley Lutheran.
In Division 3, Racine St. Catherine's edged University School, 2-1, scoring in the fifth minute of overtime. The Angels will meet Winnebago Lutheran at noon Friday in one semifinal, followed by a semifinal between Kohler and Chippewa Falls McDonell/Eau Claire Regis.
Championship games are set for Saturday, with the Division 3 game at 10 a.m., Division 2 at noon and Division 1 at 2 p.m.
Click here for links to the sectional brackets.
Click here for state tournament preview information and past results.
Homestead reigns again
Homestead defeated Oshkosh West, 6-1, on Saturday to wrap up a 26-0 season and a repeat as WIAA Division 1 state team tennis champ.
All four Homestead singles players went 3-0 through the state tournament, led by sophomore Aly Coran, the Highlanders' No. 1 singles player who finished the year with a 40-0 record. Coran won the state individual singles title last week. The four singles entries put together a combined season record of 152-4.
Homestead also beat Nicolet, 6-1, in the semifinal round.
In Division 2, University School beat Altoona, 7-0, in a semifinal match, but lost to Green Bay Notre Dame, 5-2, to repeat as champion after University School had won four consecutive titles.
Click here for links to all match results.
The state of cross country
Qualifiers have been set for the state cross country meet, to be held Saturday, Oct. 31 at The Ridges Golf Course outside Wisconsin Rapids.
Among the boys team qualifiers from sectional races Saturday are first-place finishers Arrowhead, Milwaukee Marquette, Waterford, Waukesha West, Pewaukee (Division 2) and Racine Prairie (Division 3). Marquette's Jake Erschen had the best qualifying time of any area individual, covering 5,000 meters in 15 minutes 43 seconds.
The leading girls team qualifiers are sectional winners Homestead, Whitefish Bay, Muskego, Waukesha West, Pewaukee (D-2) and Racine Prairie (D-3). Whitefish Bay's Emma-Lisa Murphy won the individual title in the Brookfield Central Sectional (14:44, 4,000 meters), and defending Division 1 champ Gabby Levac of Arrowhead won the Arrowhead sectional (14:45).
Defending Division 2 champ Morgan Sickels of Waukesha Catholic Memorial won her sectional (15:09), and in Division 3, defending champ Molly Seidel of Hartland's University Lake School won her sectional (14:59).
Click here for a menu of links to all the statewide sectional results.
Girls volleyball update
We have made it to the sectional round in girls volleyball, and upsets have been few and far between. As far as area teams go, the top four teams in the regional seedings for every Division 1 sectional have advanced as predicted, and there has been only three area upsets in the lower divisions.
In Division 1, that list includes defending state champion Kenosha Tremper, Mukwonago, Burlington, Westosha Central, Divine Savior Holy Angels, Wauwatosa West, Oak Creek, Milwaukee Pius, Muskego, Brookfield East, Brookfield Central, Franklin, Watertown, Homestead, Menomonee Falls, Nicolet and West Bend East.
The Division 2 area survivors are Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Catholic Memorial and Wisconsin Lutheran - which knocked off top-seeded Union Grove in three games on Saturday.
In Division 3, top-seeded Whitefish Bay Dominican advanced, but so did Shoreland Lutheran, which rallied from an 0-2 deficit to beat top-seeded Racine St. Catherine's in a five-game thriller.
And in Division 4, top-seeded Lake Country Lutheran advanced along with defending state champ Burlington Catholic Central, which upended top-seeded Faith Christian.
Sectional semifinal matches will be played Thursday, with sectional finals set for Saturday as teams aim for berths in the state meet at the Resch Center in Green Bay Nov. 5-7.
Check every score and the upcoming schedule through these links to the bracket listings:
Art Kabelowsky has spent 33 years in the sports writing business, the last 12 with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Art was named the Journal Sentinel's Prep Editor in July, 2000, directing its high school sports coverage until he accepted the paper's offer of a voluntary buyout last August.
A graduate of Sussex Hamilton High School and UW-Whitewater, Art has also worked for daily papers in Fort Atkinson, Racine, La Crosse and Decatur, Ill. He has been sports editor in Fort Atkinson and La Crosse.
Art spent five years as a beat reporter covering the La Crosse Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Association and has also covered a Rose Bowl, countless Green Bay Packers games and more than 25 years' worth of state high school basketball tournaments and football finals.
He lives on the northwest side and has spent the last few months volunteering as an assistant football coach at Milwaukee Riverside High School.
