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Raiders finish one game from state
Raiders finish one game from state
Above: Toria Devoe of Sugar River (15) crashes into Allison Charbonneau (5) of McFarland on a pass into the box, while Taya Gilbertson (4) Nikole Schultz (11) and Ripley Swenson (5) defend around the goal for Sugar River. Below: The Sugar River Raiders finished the spring season with a 17-6-1 record, exceeding coach John Ziperski’s expectations. “I’m proud of the girls. We came into the season not expecting to necessarily get this far. I thought everyone came together. They listened and they trusted us,” Ziperski said. - photo by Mark Evenstad
Sugar River one game away
Above: Toria Devoe of Sugar River (15) crashes into Allison Charbonneau (5) of McFarland on a pass into the box, while Taya Gilbertson (4) Nikole Schultz (11) and Ripley Swenson (5) defend around the goal for Sugar River. Below: The Sugar River Raiders finished the spring season with a 17-6-1 record, exceeding coach John Ziperski’s expectations. “I’m proud of the girls. We came into the season not expecting to necessarily get this far. I thought everyone came together. They listened and they trusted us,” Ziperski said.

The Sugar River Raiders just missed a chance to get to the WIAA Girls State Soccer Tournament. First, they won a Division 3 sectional semifinal 1-0 over Delavan-Darien on Friday, June 12, but then lost the following night to McFarland in the sectional championship, 4-0.

The Raiders, the No. 2 seed faced the Delavan-Darien Comets, the No. 3 seed, in the sectional semifinal at New Glarus on Friday, June 12 and the two teams played to a scoreless tie through the first half of the match.

That didn’t last long in the second half as senior Toria Devoe scored an unassisted goal at 40:35 to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. Goalkeeper Savanah Minter and the Raiders defense made that goal stand as Sugar River posted its 16th shutout of the season and advanced to the sectional final to face the No. 1 seeded McFarland Spartans on Saturday, June 13 in McFarland.

The Spartans came into the game ranked No. 2 in the final Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association poll and undefeated at 15-0-4 and had allowed just one goal the entire season.

McFarland got three goals from freshman Allison Charbonneau and another goal by senior Kennedy Schoenbrodt to deny the Raiders a trip to state. The Spartans goals were the first scored against Sugar River in eight halves of postseason action.

McFarland got its first goal from Charbonneau on a perfectly executed header at 16:40 for a 1-0 lead. Charbonneau scored again at 39:04 to give the Spartans a 2-0 halftime lead. In the second half, Schoenbrodt nudged the ball which trickled into the net at 52:14 to put McFarland ahead 3-0. Just 97 seconds later, Charbonneau got her third goal to push McFarland to a 4-0 advantage.

The Raiders simply could not break through against McFarland goalkeeper Jaylah Moore, who has committed to Division 1 UW-Milwaukee. Sugar River got off only one shot on goal the entire match. McFarland heads to the state tournament for the seventh time and for the second time in the past three seasons.

Sugar River coach John Ziperski said the Raiders met and exceeded their expectations for this season.

“I’m proud of the girls. We came into the season not expecting to necessarily get this far. I thought everyone came together. They listened and they trusted us,” said Ziperski.

Since a 3-0 loss to McFarland in the regular season on May 8, Sugar River recorded nine shutouts and outscored their opponents 40-4, a mark Ziperski said he is very proud of.

“We like to take some pride in our defense and I think this year they came together. They were very organized and incredibly intelligent and as a group they really performed well,” Ziperski said.

Sugar River ends the season 17-6-1. It was the fifth time in the past six seasons that McFarland has ended the Raiders season in the sectionals.