McFARLAND — Despite an early 2-0 lead, the No. 9-ranked Sugar River Raiders fell to the No. 7-ranked McFarland Spartans 3-2 in overtime during a WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal on Thursday, June 8. 

Headed into the game, head coach John Ziperski and his team knew they were in for a battle, given the four teams left in the sectional: Edgewood, McFarland and Evansville. Since 2005, only Sugar River, McFarland, Edgewood or now D-2 Mt. Horeb has won the sectional. 

“Our sectional is tough, and it prepares you for state. It’s unfortunate that we just happen not to be the ones to get to state this year,” Ziperski said. “I think half of this game was believing we belonged and getting rid of some of those skeletons in the closet. We felt we made that happen after we got the second goal.”

After McFarland sent a shot over net, sophomore Anya Brenkman responded in the 19th minute with a breakaway. She dribbled down the left side of the field, evaded three defenders and scored against the Spartans’ keeper. 

Nearly nine minutes later, Brenkman scored again. As a McFarland defender fell near midfield, Brenkman slipped past the fallen defender, dribbled around another two and netted a kick to give Sugar River a 2-0 lead.

“It was amazing. Our team needed it,” Brenkman said of the two-goal lead. “We like getting ahead and putting ourselves into a defensive spot. We are a mental team, we are emotional, we need a lead to give a little bit of hope.”

From that point on, though, McFarland shifted the momentum. It started when Sugar River’s Audry Bruggemann was given a yellow card, resulting in a free kick. In a span of two minutes, the Spartans had a corner kick and another shot that went wide. 

In the final minute of the first half, Brenkman took a corner kick herself. The Raiders were unable to cash in on the scoring opportunity, and McFarland hastily took the ball all the way down the pitch, and a foul in the box resulted in a penalty kick. Elise Freeman scored with seconds left to send McFarland into the half trailing 2-1.

“Honestly, you can’t think about it,” Sugar River goalkeeper Addison Lutz said of the goal. “If it goes in, it’s just a great shot. You can’t let it get to your head, or else you bring the rest of the team down. Everyone feeds off everyone’s energy.”

Last season, when the Spartans knocked off the Raiders 6-1, the game played out similarly. McFarland scored in the final seconds of the first half to knot the game at 1-1. The momentum swing fazed Sugar River, but this year the team was determined to not let it happen again.

“I asked them to try and clear their heads and not repeat history,” Ziperski said of his halftime speech. “We needed to keep the momentum, regardless of what happened.”

Lutz maintained her team’s lead, as she made four key saves in the opening four minutes of the second half.

“It’s amazing, especially for her first year of playing on varsity,” Brenkman said of Lutz’s abiliites. “It feels like she’s been back there all these years.”

After numerous saves by Lutz, McFarland found a hole in the 50th minute. Just outside the box, Courtney Davis received a perfectly timed header pass on her course to the net and scored on a kick to the lower right corner to come square at 2-2.

Sugar River had many opportunities to regain the lead in the final 30 minutes of regulation, as Lily Maynard, Zoey Lovejoy, Brenkman and Bruggeman all had just that just missed the mark. 

In the first 10-minute overtime period, McFarland took a 3-2 lead with a shot from Dean outside the box that just escaped the hands of a leaping Lutz. The goal proved to be the game winner, as Sugar River was unable to score in the remaining 15 minutes of overtime. 

“We left no regrets,” Ziperski said. “They are upset because it’s over but not upset that they failed. They are going to miss this.”

Lutz made 12 saves in the loss. Brenkman scored both goals and, in doing so, broke Sugar River’s single-season scoring record (38). The previous mark (37) was set by Hannah Kernen. 

Sugar River concluded it season with an 18-6-1 record. The Raiders won their sixth straight Capitol Conference title, captured their eighth straight regional title and say goodbye to a very special class of seniors. Head coach Ziperski and assistant coach Bob Gentilli both had senior daughters on the team — Annika Ziperski and Jenna Gentilli. 

“It’s a tough one. I have to reflect more on the seniors, my daughter being one of them. I had coached them since U9 when they were little Comets,” Ziperski said. “It was a special group for me, for sure. I said to each and every one of them, go do something awesome now. This is just the start of the rest of the awesome they are going to do.”

McFarland lost to top-ranked Edgewood 3-1 in the sectional final. The Crusaders will make their seventh appearance at state in 17 years.