MONROE — The Cheesemakers’ boys soccer team picked up a revengeful and confidence-building victory in the opening round of the WIAA Division 3 playoffs. Monroe defeated Prairie du Chien 2-1 on Oct. 17 at Honey Creek Park.
“It feels really great — motivating even,” said junior Osmar Fernandez Sanchez. “For the last two years, we’ve had really tough seasons. Last year we got knocked off by this same team.”
Getting a home playoff game was a big deal for the Cheesemakers, who have struggled throughout much of the program’s history — especially during the run of this year’s senior class. Monroe had back-to-back winning seasons in 2011 (8-7-5) and 2012 (10-7), but since that time, the Cheesemakers are just 33-136-14 overall — a winner percentage of just .195. For this year’s senior class, the winning percentage is just .068 due to a mark of 4-54-7 over the past four seasons.
Under first-year head coach Matt Coplien, a former Cheesemaker himself, the team has seen strides despite facing near-constant adversity.
“The older guys stepped up,” Coplien said. “The guys that had to make the plays stepped up: Matthew (Setterstrom) has been itching to score more goals. Osmar is our goal scorer and he did a good job stepping up. Our back four did a great job stepping up tonight, too.”
On Tuesday, the Cheesemakers (2-17-2) needed to come from behind in order to knock off the Blackhawks — a co-op of three schools: PDC, River Ridge and Seneca. A freekick goal by sophomore Garrett DeHart put the Hawks (0-12-1) up 1-0 in the 12th minute. He booted the ball over Monroe’s wall and beyond Cheesemaker sophomore keeper Nathaniel Richardson.
“We watched film and discussed before the game that he was their athlete. We saw that in his goal, and knew he would pressure us pretty much all game. He’s a heck of an athlete,” Coplien said. After the goal, Coplien’s defense kept DeHart from making any other noise. “The moment we shut him down, you could see everyone else’s head drop (on his team).”
Monroe controlled the ball much of the first point prior to the goal, and the Cheesemakers kept the pressure up on offense — especially on counterattacks. Late in the 30th minute, Caleb Figi sent a kick toward net, which ricocheted off the goalpost and onto the boot of Monroe junior winger Matthew Setterstrom, who punched it into the back of the net.
“We were a little flat at the beginning in that first half, but we made the adjustments that we needed to at halftime. I think it was pretty visible that the pressure came then. We knew that (PDC) was going to be playing out of the back, and we just capitalized and attacking off their mistakes,” Coplien said.
Less than eight minutes into the second half, the Cheesemakers took the lead for good as Fernandez Sanchez crisply punched the ball from the top of the box in transition passed the Blackhawks’ keeper. He had a half-dozen opportunities earlier in the game to put one in net but missed. This time, he sent his teammates into a frenzy on the pitch — as well as the group of German exchange students cheering on the Cheesemakers from the home bleachers.
PDC tried to put a rush on several times as time ticked down, but Monroe’s back line held strong, as did Richardson.
“Our back four and their experience playing together was huge,” Coplien said. “Brock Brandli came up for every throw in, every set piece. Trent Wyss stepped up on every play to keep the pressure on. Marcus Aragon has played JV all season, and we needed someone to step up and play defense for us, and Marcus did that for us. He earned that spot, and we’re going to stick with the hot stick back there and keep everyone rolling.”
Another boost for Monroe’s confidence moving forward? Starting freshman forward Reece McIntosh is expected to return from a concussion.
“Reece McIntosh played almost every single minute this season, but in the conference tournament came out with a concussion so we lost him for the first playoff game,” Coplien said. “Luckily we get him back for Edgerton.”
Up next for Monroe is a tall task: No. 3-ranked and top-seeded Edgerton (14-0-3), the Rock Valley Conference champions this fall. In their lone matchup back on Oct. 3, Edgerton toppled the Cheesemakers 7-1 at T.R. Holyoke Field in Monroe.
“We’re ready to ruin somebody else’s season,” Fernandez Sanchez said.
