MONROE — Even with three of its starters out due to injury, 14-seed Monroe shut out 19-seed Black River Falls 3-0 in a WIAA Division 3 regional quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Forward Matthew Setterstrom tore his meniscus, defender Caleb Figi broke his foot, and midfielder Carsen Bartholf is recovering from a hamstring injury.

“That hurts anybody, but we are working through it,” Monroe head coach Matt Coplien said. “The younger boys are doing a really good job of stepping up.”

It took Monroe just six minutes to get on the board, but it came on a Tiger mistake. Black River Falls fouled, and Trenton Wyss took the free kick. Although Wyss’ ball sailed over the head of Reece Mcintosh, Luke Bradt vacated the net to make the save. He misjudged the ball, which found Kayleb Escobedo wide-open in front of the net for an uncontested goal.

But the Cheesemakers struggled the rest of the half to build and maintain momentum. Their passes weren’t as crisp and they were dribbling into multiple defenders.

“You saw the nerves. Anyone who tells you they don’t get nervous for playoffs is lying,” Coplien said. “The biggest thing is we can’t take 40 minutes to get rid of the nerves. We made adjustments at half and started to find the back of the net.” 

The second goal came just three minutes into the second frame, as Brock Brandli attempted a throw-in to Mcintosh in front of the net. The ball missed, but Osmar Fernandez Sanchez was waiting on the back side and lasered the ball in the back of the net in the upper right corner.

But the attack didn’t stop there, Gavin DeNure kept peppering the net, putting three shots on goal in a span of three minutes. He was finally rewarded with a goal in the 59th minute.   

Escobedo dribbled down the right side of the pitch, and just like the Cheesemakers do in warm ups, made a cross pass to DeNure on the backside for an open header.

“It was really awesome to see because we practice it all the time,” DeNure said. “I had all the confidence in the world he (Escobedo) would get it to me. I just did my part to be in my spot and finish the job.”

With the win, Monroe (5-9-5, 1-6-1 Rock Valley) advances to a regional semifinal game against 3-seed McFarland (12-4-2, 5-0-2 Badger Small).

“We’ve played teams like them,” Coplien said. “We understand that we can play with anybody. The biggest thing is the boys believing in themselves.”