Bluejays soccer team unstoppable in 19-1 scoring week

The Three Lakes-Phelps boys varsity soccer team had a successful week by any statistical measurement. First, the Bluejays went 3-0 and earned a third seed in the 2025 WIAA State Championship Soccer Tournament, with competition beginning in Three Lakes next week. Their 10-5-1 record is one of the best in the region, and they are not just winning; they are dominating good teams. In three games last week, the Jays outscored their opponents 19-1 and held two of the teams scoreless, earning goalkeeper Masen Schoeneck five shutouts during the season.

“We seem to be peaking at the right time,” Head Coach Brad Volkmann commented at the end of the week. “I have been telling the kids all season that they were on the doorstep to something special, and that if everything came together, we would be a dangerous team for the postseason tournament. It feels as though it is starting to happen, and our confidence level across the board is way up.”

Action for the Bluejays last week started with an 8-0 win on the road at Iron Mountain High School, where Grayson Polcaster and Cohen Welsh each scored two goals and Ethan Potrykus, Matthew Klein, Ashton Boehm and Trenton Peterson each found the net in a game shortened by WIAA rules due to the eight-goal advantage mercy rule. The next night, the Jays faced their cross-town rivals, Northland Pines.

The Eagles came to Three Lakes after their own successful run of three games just two weeks ago, but this was an improved Bluejays team they were facing compared to the one that lost its first game of the season at Northland Pines High School. The nonstop ball-handling practice sessions and seasoned instruction by coach Volkmann, with heavy involvement by assistants Phil Doherty and John Welsh, have left the Bluejays with significantly refined fundamentals.

While goalkeeper Schoeneck has performed very well for the Jays, he spent many lonely minutes against a Pines team that was held to just six shots, while the game was once again shortened by the 8-0 rule. The halftime score was actually close, with the Jays up 2-0 as Welsh and Lucas Riker lit up the scoreboard early, but the Bluejays then dominated control of the ball in the second half when they scored five additional unanswered goals. It started with a headshot score by Polcaster three minutes into the half, followed by another Polcaster goal, before Cruz Melton scored twice. Potrykus and Carson Plehn also hit the back of the net.

Next on the agenda for the Bluejays last week was a Thursday matchup in Eau Claire, where the Jays defeated Regis High School 3-1 with Polcaster, Welsh and Melton scoring for the Jays. With a 3-0 lead, the Bluejays allowed their first and only goal of the week in the first half, and the 3-1 score stood for the duration of the game. After the victory, coach Volkmann commented on the talent that could handle such a physically demanding streak of games over four days.

“We are a very young team,” he said. “Starting a lot of freshmen and sophomores with the same coming off the bench. A lot of the guys are soccer-first guys, so they have club experience, and now that they are used to the speed of the high school game, they are flourishing. It has been fun to be part of it.”

The Bluejays have an early game scheduled this week at Howards Grove High School and will spend the balance of the week preparing for the postseason action starting next Thursday, October 23, against the Regis Ramblers at Three Lakes High School. Formal game time details have not yet been set, but it will likely be a late afternoon or early evening start.