NEW GLARUS — The Cheesemakers stunned the Raiders on Sept. 3, running to a 1-1 draw in a nonconference game between Green County’s two high school soccer programs, the first regular season between the two programs in about a decade.

“Kudos to those guys — they have some really good players. They moved the ball really fast and went to our outsides,” Sugar River coach Bob Gentilli said. “They did everything they could do, and we did everything we could do. We had 25-plus shots that we just couldn’t finish either. Their goalie played tough. He made some good saves.”

The game was scoreless through the first half, and both coaches told their teams to keep playing their game.

Monroe is stronger, faster and more physical than in past seasons, which is a different style of play than the Raiders promote. Sugar River is also going through some early season changes. Despite graduating only four starters from last year, to field the best team, coach Bob Gentilli has moved some players around to new positions, which means there is an adjustment period.

“They threw us off our game a little bit because of the physicality,” Gentilli said. “We have probably three-quarters of our guys playing in different positions this year. We’re trying to get the feel of everything out there right now.”

Raiders leading scorer Drew Brueggemann put his team up 1-0 at the 45:58 mark in the second half on a penalty kick. Just minutes later, at 49:38, Monroe’s Emiliano Torres Enriquez followed a pass from Reece McIntosh into the box and was fouled, setting up a PK for the Cheesemakers. Josue Torres scored the equalizer on the penalty kick to even the score at 1-1.

“Assistant Coach (Gottlieb) Brandli was talking about that to our guys in the postgame huddle: No one panicked once we got down. No one got nervous,” Monroe coach Matt Coplien said. “Within the next five, ten minutes, our opportunity game, and when you get those opportunities, you have to make them count.”

Monroe keeper Diego Meyer Castellanos became a brick wall the rest of the night, deflecting kick after kick away from danger, which included a highlight-reel double save on Brueggemann from tight inside the box.

“The confidence just keeps growing on him. It’s great to see,” Coplien said. “I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff in my five years here, but that double-save tonight, from one of their best strikers, Drew, was unbelievable. That’s a gamechanger right there.”

The Cheesemakers returned home two days later for a day game against Platteville/Lancaster but lost 2-1. Monroe (1-2-1) hosts Wisconsin Heights/Barneveld (4-0-0) on Sept. 8 and then travel to Evansville (3-0-1) on Sept. 10.

“We told everyone we’re not hiding. We want to play the best of the best in our sectional this year,” Coplien said. Opening the season with McFarland, Monroe has now seen three of the top four seeds from last year’s sectional. “The guys coming out 1-1-1 so far (defeating Dodgeville-Mineral Point on Aug. 27) is a great step forward for us. Everyone’s playing hard and they’re playing Monroe soccer. That’s what we like to see.”

Sugar River (2-1-1) travels to fifth-ranked McFarland (2-1) on Sept. 8, then hosts Columbus (4-0) in the Capitol Conference opener on Sept. 10.

“Our conference is evening out, which is fabulous. It’ll be real competitive this year, and we’ll see how it goes,” Gentilli said.