About midway through the second half, Brookfield senior Jenna Bugbee came close to tallying a hat trick.
She had already scored twice for the Beavers girls varsity soccer team as they took a 3-0 halftime lead. Bugbee’s hard smack from the right side of the goal was stopped, but not caught by the Otselic Valley goalie, preventing the third goal.
But right on the moment was teammate Hannah Barber, who hit the open net with the juggled ball that was dropped and gave the Beavers a 4-0 lead. And with 8:42 left in the game, Bugbee did earn that hat trick with a beautiful on-the-run goal that made it 5-0. The Vikings scored late in the game for the final goal.
It was the fifth win of the year for Brookfield, a team that has played hard but come up short in this season’s competitive Central Counties League against some of the state-ranked teams. But Coach Sarah Abrams squad has some young players mixed in with those seniors who have learned well this year. Not that they are waiting, as the Beavers take a four-game win streak into the final week of the season.
Plus, their competitive spirit comes to play regardless of their record each game. Bugbee sent that message in the first 5 minutes with her first goal of the game that came off an assist by one of those young players, Lilly Vleer-Elliott.
OV tried to tie the game, but Brookfield’s defense prevented all but four shots on goal, with three of them saved by freshman goalie Megan Kupris. She had help in...