MILWAUKEE — Somerset boys soccer coach Karsten Grover was worried about his team getting off to a slow start.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, his worst fear was quickly realized.

Somerset, which had allowed three goals in a match just once all season, gave up three scores in the opening 20 minutes and dropped a 5-0 decision to Plymouth in the Division 3 semifinals of the Wisconsin boys soccer state tournament Thursday.

“We have a tendency to be a second-half team,” Grover said. “We have a tendency to start games slow. We talked about it a lot before the game. But I think a lot of nerves. First time this team’s ever been this far. Bigger pitch than we’re used to by a lot. I know the guys were talking a lot about that before the game. So, a lot of new things for us to figure out.

“We just had a slow start,” Grover said. “The first 20 minutes kind of cost us.”

The third-seeded Spartans (23-2), making their first state tournament appearance, never got untracked against the second-seeded Panthers, who controlled play from the onset.

Plymouth outshot Somerset 19-1 with more than half of them on goal.

The Panthers, with a significant wind at their back, took a 1-0 lead at 8:22 when Jaren Baltus connected from the top of the of box with a shot that carried over the reach of Spartans goalkeeper Conrad Webb.

Plymouth made it 2-0 eight minutes later when Carter Schmitz gathered a pass from Baltus at the top of the box and again chipped it just over the reach of Webb.

“I think it was just jitters,” Grover said. “I mean, it could be the wind, but I think just jitters. We were playing a little flat-footed. We gave them more room than we should have given them to start with. We weren’t pressing them on defense like we normally do. I think it was just first-time jitters.”

Plymouth extended the lead to 3-0 at 20:36 when a corner kick carried through the defense and Alec Wilderman found the net from in front of the right post.

“We’ve been playing really good and never really had a setback like this,” said Somerset senior Landon Christiansen, who had a team-high 48 goals this season. “It was just really hard to come back being so far behind.

“I could definitely tell warming up that everybody was a little bit nervous,” he said. “Nobody’s been in this position before.”

The only time Somerset allowed three goals in a match this season was a 3-1 loss to New Richmond. The Spartans allowed two goals in a match twice.

“We play a lot of possession game,” Grover said. “And in the first half with the wind, we were trying to play too much long ball, and it just wasn’t working. We didn’t find our rhythm until about 25, 30 minutes in.”

Any hopes of a Somerset comeback evaporated in a two-minute span on a pair of goals by Plymouth’s Owen Plate midway through the second half.

Plate scored on a free kick from just outside the box at 64:47 and then scored again two minutes later, pouncing on a loose ball in close for a goal just inside the right post.

The Spartans were outshot 26-6 for the entire match, with Webb registering eight saves. Plymouth goalie Isaac Falk was forced to make just one save.

Despite the loss, Grover was proud of his team’s accomplishments.

“The kids had an amazing time this season, did something the school’s never done,” he said. “That’s my message for them. Keep their heads high.”

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