NEW GLARUS — The Sugar River Raiders celebrated its first home playoff game in program history with a 1-0 win over Whitewater on Oct. 24 at the recently completed New Glarus Community Sports Complex.
“That was the whole talk — it wasn’t about winning or losing — it was ‘we finally get to play a home game, at home!’” Sugar River coach Bob Gentilli said. “This is a pretty special place. It’s cool that we won our first home playoff game here.”
Two days later, the score was flipped in a loss to longtime playoff rival Edgewood, ending the Raiders’ season in a WIAA Division 3 regional final.
Before the game, Sugar River coach Bob Gentilli said the team knew Edgewood would be tough, and that the Raiders would have to get “a couple goals in — at least,” in order to have a shot at winning.
“They are the real deal,” Gentilli said of Edgewood. “They are loaded. They are a fabulous team and well coached. They are good and can score. We can’t miss opportunities and hit the post. If we get a good look, we have to take it — and make it.”
Earlier this season, third-ranked Edgewood (13-1-3) knocked off Sugar River (11-5-3) by the same score in a non conference game, with the lone goal coming on a set play. The postseason rivalry between the two schools dates back more than two decades, and just last year the Raiders won in the sectional final en route to the program’s first-ever state championship.
“Perseverance is a good word to use — these guys have persevered this year,” Gentilli said of this year’s squad. While the Raiders finished unbeaten in the Capitol Conference, he said it really came down to winning the league by just a singular goal. “We knew (it would be tough) when we lost 13 guys from last year. But I think they had something to prove this year.”
Against Whitewater, scoring opportunities came at a premium, but Sugar River still had ample opportunities. It wasn’t until the 51st minute that things got really wild. The Raiders put three different shots on net, all rejected by either a post or a Whippets defender. But then, from the middle of the box in traffic, senior Jackson Erstad got his foot on the ball and found the back of the net.
“If you keep putting shots on the net, keep pressuring — one of them is going to go in,” Erstad said.
The shot sent the Raiders into jubilation, having finally connected on a goal. The rest of the way the defense did its job. One of those dropping back into defense was junior forward/midfielder Tikeh Tazeh, who usually creates opportunities up front on the attack.
“There are some reasons why we put some guys in certain spots here and there. Tikeh is fast, he’s quick, he’s agile, he’s smart — he produces so much on the field that people don’t see. Yeah, he’s missed a couple of opportunities hitting the net, but he’s a captain for a reason. He energizes everybody,” Gentilli said.
The Raiders will graduate seven players from this year’s roster and will have to find a new identity once again for next season. This past year, Erstad said it meant hard work in the offseason, bonding as teammates and coming to terms that they weren’t going to score at will in most games. In fact, Sugar River scored more than three goals just one time all season — in a 7-0 thumping of Columbus (2-16-2).
“The message throughout the whole year is that’s how our game is. We would love to score more goals,” Gentilli said. “I think when we won the Big Foot Tournament (Sept. 7) we sort of found our niche. We didn’t know our formations or where our players would even be until after that tournament.”
Elsewhere in the Division 3 playoffs, Monroe (5-10-5) saw its season come to an end with a 4-0 defeat at seventh-ranked McFarland (13-4-2) in the regional semifinal Oct. 24. The Spartans scored their goals in the eighth, 18th, 33rd and 34th minutes. McFarland went on to beat Platteville-Lancaster 2-1 in the regional final.
