Dons’ Brown wins CWC Player of the Year

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — A conference championship and a fifth-straight appearance in the WIAA sectionals highlighted another great season by the Columbus Catholic High School soccer team.

The Dons finished the year 19-5-1 overall and 13-1 in the Central Wisconsin Conference, taking first place by half a point over Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia/Rosholt. The Dons secured the conference championship by beating the Falcons in the teams’ regular-season finale.

As a result, Columbus Catholic had nine players selected to the 2017 All-Central Wisconsin Conference Soccer Team, as voted on by the conference coaches.

The Dons landed four players on the first team, including CWC Player of the Year Calvin Brown, a senior midfielder.

Brown, who was a first-team pick to the now defunct all-Mid-State Soccer Conference team the past two years, scored 48 total points with 12 goals and 24 assists for the Dons.

“(Brown) is consistently near the top in total points scored within our conference and was in the top-three players in the state for assists during the regular season,” Columbus Catholic coach Jeff Edwards said. “Calvin has the ability to settle any ball played to him and has great vision on the field. What I like most about his game is his off-the-ball movement. He moves himself into an ideal position to receive the ball as well as directing his teammates to these positions.”

Joining Brown on the first team for Columbus were senior defenseman Noah Hansen, junior forward Nadim Torbey, and junior goalkeeper Kellen Heinzen.

Torbey had 48 goals and 11 assists to lead the Dons’ offense. Hansen had five goals, and Heinzen made 68 saves in net for Columbus.

Senior Nick Malovrh; junior Evan Dieringer; and sophomores Zach Olson, Tom Nystrom, and Annika Brown were honorable mention choices for Columbus Catholic.

Dieringer totaled 16 goals and eight assists, Olson had 10 assists and three goals, and Malovrh had one goal and six assists for the Dons.

“This season the players really came together as a team,” Edwards said. “The underclassmen meshed well with the upperclassmen, which in turn led to the results that we had. We knew we had a chance for a special season, and the team delivered. Winning conference, regionals, and making it to the sectional final are memories that this team will remember forever.”