Struggling to Score, Falls Loses Soccer Match to Tosa East

On paper, Wauwatosa East’s girls soccer team is a two-person wrecking crew.

Senior Cara Walls and sophomore Alayah Walls have combined for more than half of their team’s 27 goals this season. Needless to say, trying to contain the dynamic, offensive-minded sisters, along with nine other players, can be quite a challenge. It's something Menomonee Falls found out the hard way Tuesday night.

The Indians had difficulty slowing down the Red Raiders attack all night and couldn’t find the back of the net on offense as they fell 2-0 at home.

“I think we struggle just to be able to find the back of the net,” Menomonee Falls coach Scott Stein said. “I think we outshot them by a 2-to-1 ratio, but we couldn’t get some quality chances.”

Both teams started the game slowly feeling each other out without attempting very threatening runs.

That all changed in the 21st minute when the elder Walls sent a skipping ball into the box from the left wing. A pair of Falls (9-4-1 overall, 3-3-1 Greater Metro Conference) defenders seemingly took each other out of the play, leaving an easy shot for Tosa East’s (9-2-0 overall, 4-2-0 GMC) Maja Tesmer for the game’s first goal. 

“In practice we talked about how they (Falls) play a flat back four, so we were going to try to look for the seems and the through balls," Cara Walls said. "I just turned and tried to find Maja running and that’s what happened.”

After that point, it appeared the Red Raiders were the more confident team throughout the rest of the game.

Both teams created chances, but the Indians’ attacking effort always just missed despite showing signs of great creativity.

“Sometimes I think we’re just playing too unselfish,” Stein said. “Some of our girls, they want to make that extra pass. … We outshot them, but we didn’t have a ton of quality chances. We were just putting it on frame and they didn’t really have to make a play (to make the save).”

In the end, the Red Raiders’ offensive push in the second half proved too much as Tosa East added a second goal in the 75th minute to end any hopes of a comeback. The younger Walls carried the ball down the left and slotted it to a wide-open older sister who calmly hammered the ball in the bottom left corner of the goal.

Falls looks to rebound this Thursday against Cedarburg in a non-conference matchup.