BELLEVILLE — The Raiders had another successful regular season on the pitch in 2021 and finished with a 14-2-1 overall record, including yet another conference championship (7-0 Capitol South). Sugar River then went on to win the regional championship before losing in the sectional final. The program also was awarded two prestigious honors after the season: the 2021 USC National Academics Award (3.75 GPA) and the 2021 UWC National Gold for Ethics Award.

“Our team goals are not statistical in nature, however, we are always focused on being competitive in every match,” said head coach John Ziperski. “We hope to be in the Capitol conference championship picture, look to extend our season as deep into the post-season as possible, and to work hard to earn recognition at the National level as we did the past two seasons. (Academic, Ethics, & Pinnacle Award).”

Eight players graduated from last year’s squad, including all-conference recipients Jaylynn Benson, Kirsten Krantz, Regyn Jelle, Emma Anson and Francesca Schiro. Benson led the team with 26 goals and was honorable mention all-state. In all, the Class of 2021 accounted for 40 goals and 25 assists. 

“Replacing goal-scorers, improving our possession and style in the middle third, and replacing some strong leaders from the recent graduating class” are some of the challenges the team faces, Ziperski said.

However, Sugar River is a solid program that doesn’t need to rebuild — instead simply reload.

Five of the 14 returning letterwinners were all-conference a year ago. First-team defender Bella Brenkman scored nine goals as a freshman a year ago. Callie Smith, Morgan Thompson and Jenna Gentilli were each second-team all-conference picks, with Lily Maynard an honorable mention pick in the midfield as a freshman.

Thompson saved 43 of 49 shots in goal. She’s committed to suit up in the fall for Madison College.

“We return a lot of experience, our goalkeeping and defense should be stout, our midfield is still improving with time together, and our offense will need to replace a good portion from graduation,” Ziperski said.

“The biggest challenge this year is we stepped up the competition-scheduling Verona, Deforest, Mount Horeb, McFarland, Monona Grove and other larger programs to test our team and hopefully prepare us for the post season.”

Ziperski said Lodi and Wisconsin Heights are expected to compete for the conference championship. “They both have strong, younger teams, and did not lose as much to graduation as some of the better teams from last year,” he said.