NEW GLARUS — Playing for the first time at the New Glarus Glarner Community Complex, Sugar River came away with a 1-0 win over Capitol opponent Lodi on Sept. 26. Even though the Raiders (7-2-2; 3-0) picked up their seventh shutout of the season, the Blue Devils (6-3-3; 1-2) didn’t make it easy.
“Every single game teams are coming at us,” Sugar River head coach Bob Gentilli said. “Having a target on our back is huge. The way we overcome that is day by day. That sounds cliche, but we don’t look at that. They know that this is a whole new team and whole new structure. What happened in the past is wonderful, but this is a new group.”
The Raiders have always had a target on their backs in the Capitol Conference, winning the last six league titles in a row. But after winning the Division 3 state title last season, an even bigger target formed. And Sugar River has to defend those titles with, as Gentilli said, a new group.
Aiden Hatleberg, who has since continued his soccer career at UW-Platteville, led the team with 47 goals and 15 assists for 109 points. The other top two goal scorers were also seniors — Brycen Teasdale (7) and Brady Mousseau (5).
That means junior Tikeh Tazeh, who scored four goals last season, is the team’s leading returning scorer and is expected to take on a larger offensive role. He has stepped up this season, scoring four goals with four assists for 12 points. He and sophomore Drew Brueggeman (5G, 3A, 13 pts) have connected often, including the lone goal against Lodi.
“Last year Aiden could score a lot and whenever he wanted to. Drew and Tikeh have to use combos,” Gentilli said. “They have to feed off each other. They’ve been working hard in the summer by working on those give-and-gos and combos. They almost know what the other is going to do.”
Down by a goal entering the second half, Lodi used physicality to keep Sugar River from scoring — even though the Raiders had plenty of opportunities because of it. In the 53rd minute, Nick Rentmeister received a yellow card for a foul on Tazeh. The ensuing free kick was off target.
Nearing the midway point of the half, Jackson Erstad had a breakaway opportunity with two Blue Devil defenders trailing him. Lodi goalkeeper Kyle Hoffman came out of goal to make a sliding save, getting to the ball just before Erstad.
In the last 15 minutes, Sugar River had four corner kicks and a free ball. Hoffman saved a header from Nolan Turner, resulting in another corner kick. This time, Tazeh made a short pass to Brueggemann, who got shoved off the ball before making it to the net.
Four minutes later, Tazeh was fouled on his way to the goal. His resulting free kick went straight into the Blue Devil wall and out past the end line. The first corner kick went out, resulting in another opportunity from the other flag. This time, Sawyer O’Flanagan’s kick went over the net.
“They were playing really rough. There were a lot of fouls,” Tazeh said. “It was really frustrating. The big thing was keeping our heads and keeping our cool. It would have been great (to score again). We were so close.”
In the final 10 seconds, Lodi made a push to the net, but the Raider defense kicked the ball out of bounds to run the final seconds off and secure the win.
Clayton Streiff was the keeper of record.
“From the start of the season, we’ve known that this isn’t a team that’s just rebuilding from last year,” Tazeh said. “We have a lot of energy and a lot of great players. I’ve been impressed with what we’ve done and the work that we’ve put in.”
MONROE 0, JEFFERSON 0
MONROE — The Cheesemakers and Eagles ended in a scoreless draw on Thursday, Sept. 26. With the result, Monroe (4-3-5; 1-2-1 Rock Valley) and Jefferson (4-5-1; 1-2-1) have the same record in league play. The Cheesemakers have played the bottom teams in conference with games against Delavan-Darien (2-0-2), Edgerton (1-1-2) and Big Foot-Williams Bay (2-0-2) remaining.
