BELLEVILLE — In less than seven minutes the Raiders were on the board. The next 83-plus minutes were a scoreless battle between the top two teams in the Capitol Conference, separated at the time by just one win in the standings.
As the clock struck 90:00, Sugar River’s 1-0 win over Wisconsin Heights-Barneveld on April 22 pushed the Raiders into a guaranteed share of the league title. Or so they thought.
Four days later, on April 26, the Capitol Conference received notification from Belleville athletic director Wayne Fell that Sugar River would forfeit the victory due to an eligibility issue with one of its players. That means that Sugar River and Heights are knotted up at the top of the conference at 5-1 each.
The Raiders now need to win their final two regular season games against Columbus (April 26) and Lodi (April 29) in order to guarantee themselves a piece of the pie.
Whatever needs to be done, Sugar River has a singular goal: To do it together.
“Our motto is together. Whatever we try to do, we do it together,” Sugar River coach Robert Gentilli said. “The pandemic took a lot out of the kids. It was really hard to start the season. But the guys, they just persevered. I like to think they just love the game of soccer and came out and play and wanted to be with each other.”
If Sugar River can win out, it will be the third straight season the Raiders have won the Capitol crown.
Over the last five seasons, the two programs have an even goal differential and have split wins in an every-other-year fashion. The Raiders won the first matchup earlier this year 6-5, and Sugar River was 3-2 in the previous five meetings coming into the forfeited contest.
“We knew Heights was going to come out pretty hard at us. Our goal was to just control the game and control the tempo, at least for the first 10-15 minutes and just take it from there,” Gentilli said.
In the April 22 contest, the Raiders jumped out to a 1-0 lead early on a set piece. Ryan Downing sent a corner kick into the box, and the ball bounced through the crowd. Logan Niesen was on the back side and calmly used his right foot to put the ball into the back of the net at the 6:40 mark.
“I think every game — it might have been 70 degrees — but it’s been windy. That’s a factor, too, and it depends if you get off to a good start. You have to be ready to start the game strong in those first 10 minutes,” Gentilli said.
While the Raiders had more opportunities to score later in the half, they went into halftime with a 1-0 advantage and a head of steam.
In the second half, Heights came out more aggressive and put pressure on Sugar River’s defense and keeper Cam Kleiboer.
“When we played Heights the first time it was 6-5. I think they scored on three set plays on us, so we know they can score on those,” Gentilli said. “We’ve been working with Kleiboer a little bit on goal training to make sure he knows the proper technique of going up and separating himself from an attacker or a guy who is going to head the ball. He’s a smart goalie and he knows what to do.”
On one corner kick in the second half, Kleiboer roared through traffic to secure the airborne ball. On another Heights rush, Kleiboer went to the ground to secure the ball, and save another goal.
“(Gavin) Childs is a heck of a player,” Gentilli said of Height’s striker, who is also the league’s leading scorer with 12 goals in six games. “He does a lot of things that you don’t expect, and he can make a lot happen in a little space. If you give him even a little space, he can make something happen.”
The Raiders had an opportunity to go up 2-0 early in the second half. Downing was putting his own rush on the goal on a breakaway when he was tripped from behind by Heights defender Gibson Heathcote just yards from the 18 box.
Heathcote was given a yellow card, but the aggressive play saved a potential goal. Less than 10 minutes later, Heathcote went to the turf awkwardly going for a 50/50 ball, injuring his leg, and needed to be carried off the field.
The Raiders raised their defensive game as the second half rolled on and Heights picked up its pressure. In the final minutes, Sugar River methodically dribbled the ball up the field and into open space to kill time.
“Heights has a lot of grit. They just keep coming at you. We have to use the field on those guys. If we use the field, we can sort of control the pace,” Gentilli said.
The WIAA postseason begins with regional play May 4 and 6, with sectional semifinals and finals in a doubleheader May 8. The state championship is slated for May 15 at Fond du Lac’s Marian University.
Sugar River is bundled with Monroe, Stoughton, Evansville and McFarland in its Division 2 regional. DeForest, Lodi, Heights-Barneveld, Mount Horeb and Madison County Day co-op are all in the sectional, which will take place at DeForest.
