MONROE — With a goal in the final 10 seconds, Gavin DeNure provided a bit of excitement at the end of Monroe’s (0-19, 0-8 Badger West) 1-2 season-ending loss to Prairie du Chien (2-14, 0-8 Southwest Wisconsin) on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
“I think the main takeaway is that this is a team that played through to the final whistle, game after game,” head coach Matt Bodeau said.
The Cheesemakers faced adversity early, as they lost the coin toss and had to play into the wind on a breezy, 40-degree day.
The Blackhawks took advantage of the conditions with a scoring opportunity in the first ten minutes. Keeper Hudson Davis vacated the net to block the ball but missed. Prairie found the back of the net, but it was called off.
Prairie’s offense kept up the pressure, scoring its first goal on a kick from Jackson Smelzer. Roughly 30 seconds later, Smelzer put another shot on goal that was saved by Davis.
Monroe also had its moments, as Hassan Mustafa broke away and passed to Freddy Reyes up the field. Reyes was unable to get a shot off. Three minutes later, a Cheesemaker shot sailed over the net.
“Obviously, we didn’t want to have a goal scored on us that first half,” Bodeau said. “At half, I thought we had a really good chance based on the opportunities that we had.”
The Cheesemakers came out of the half firing, as one shot went wide of the net and another was saved by Prairie’s keeper Logan Higgins.
Midway through the second half, the Blackhawks extended their lead with a goal from Garrett DeHart. He was assisted by Smelzer.
“Unfortunately, 15 for Prairie du Chien [Garrett DuHart] made a fantastic play the last half of the game,” Bodeau said. “He’s just a freshman so we will be playing against him in the future.”
Monroe picked up the pace and intensity, leading to two yellow cards for Reyes and Carson Buholzer. The effort paid off, though, as DeNure found the back of the net with 10 seconds left in the game. Alesandro Chagoya was credited with the assist.
According to Monroe Times unofficial statistics, Davis let up two goals with nine saves.
“Hudson Davis had a break-out year as a sophomore,” Bodeau said. “He’s bodying senior captains off the ball. It’s not often that you have a sophomore that plays that physical. He’s improving technique-wise and awareness-wise. I’m looking forward to the next couple of seasons to watch him grow.”
With the conclusion of the season, the team says goodbye to its seniors Xander Obert, Sebastian Watkins, Dayne Garwell, Seth Brandt, Trey Wyss, Brian Guzman, Blake Zoellick, Reyes and Chagoya.
“Those players are very special to me because they are the last year of players that I had as a JV coach,” Bodeau said. “The younger players coming up will only ever know me as the head coach. Obviously, I have a little different relationship as JV coach with the players because I can have a more personable, individual connection with the players. As a head coach, I have to worry about more administration stuff. I’m really going to miss these guys. They’ve made coaching a lot of fun.”
Despite a losing record, the team saw improvements throughout the season that make next year look promising.
“This is probably the best game we’ve had all season in terms of completed passing,” Bodeau said. “We were really composed with the ball. In the second half, we overplayed some of our through balls, but in general, the ability to triangle pass and give-and-go had been consistently improving.”
