BELLEVILLE — Sugar River senior Kalin O’Rourke understands how big of a roadblock Mount Horeb has been for the Raiders soccer team the past decade. The Vikings held a 3-1 playoff series advantage on the Raiders the past 10 years, which included a shootout in 2013 when Mount Horeb went on to finish as the Division 2 state runner-up.

O’Rourke scored two goals to lift Sugar River to a 3-2 win over the Vikings in a WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal Thursday in Belleville. 

With the win, Sugar River (17-0-1) avenged a tie against No. 5-ranked Mount Horeb 2-2 from earlier this season and a loss to the Vikings in the postseason last year. The Raiders are now 2-3 in the postseason against Mount Horeb the past 10 years.

“It feels amazing,” O’Rourke said. “It’s beyond words. I was not ready to be done. We tied them earlier this season. It felt good to redeem ourselves and beat them this time. We were always ranked below Mount Horeb in all of the standings this season. We always proved ourselves. As a senior this will be something I don’t forget making it to the sectional finals.”

Sugar River, ranked No. 8 in Division 3 by the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association, is one win away from reaching the state tournament for the second time in three years. The Raiders will play No. 3-ranked Madison Edgewood in a Division 3 sectional championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday in Mount Horeb. The Raiders are 1-3 against Edgewood the past nine years. Sugar River topped the Crusaders in 2016 on their way to a state runner-up finish.

“I told the girls before the game we were a better team this year than last year when we played them and lost 1-0 to them here,” Sugar River coach John Ziperski said of the Vikings. “They needed confidence and needed to go in there without the monkey on the back and really show up for the game and play the way they have. The nice thing is I haven’t had to do a lot of motivation this year. They are solid, smart ladies. They are smart girls and they know what they are doing. They are grounded and did their job.”

O’Rourke scored her first goal on a shot to the far post off a pinpoint pass from senior Eve Palmer at 7 minutes, 53 seconds.

O’Rourke scored her second goal sneaking in a shot to the near post at 31:20 to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead at the half.

“I was just really speechless and I was really happy I could give my team that kind of a lead in this close of a game,” O’Rourke said.

Sugar River junior Sydney Gentilli scored a goal off a throw-in from junior Morgan Hustad to give the Raiders a 3-0 lead at 50:32.

Mount Horeb junior Maggie Conway scored on an assist by sophomore Olivia Yanna at 51:20 to cut the Raiders’ lead to 3-1.

 “To come back and knock them out means a lot,” said Sugar River goalkeeper Rachael Heittola who had a game-high 13 saves. “A couple more days with my seniors really means everything.”

After a foul called on the Raiders in the 62nd minute, the Vikings had a golden scoring opportunity. Junior Makyla Severson scored, knocking the ball past a diving Heittola to cut the Raiders’ lead to one goal at 3-2.

“I felt really bad because I thought I should have saved it,” Heittola said. “I just really wanted everyone to step up on defense and offense and know the game was not over. They (Mount Horeb) were obviously still in it.”

Ziperski was proud of the Raiders’ offensive performance. However, he knows they could have cashed in on a few more opportunities like O’Rourke did in the first half.

“I wish we would have played a little bit more like the first half in the second half,” Ziperski said. “Obviously, Mount Horeb pressured a lot harder in the second half. They had nothing to lose in the second half.”

The Vikings had a couple scoring chances in the final 18 minutes, but each shot went awry.

“Weathering the storm at the end when they were throwing everything at the goal it’s tough,” Ziperski said. “I’m proud of how hard they worked and the class they showed on the field. We were never safe in the second half. We worked our hardest. There was never a time where we thought that we had something in the bag up to the last second.”

Sugar River now has one practice today to gear up for the sectional final showdown against Edgewood.

“It’s like we got one titan and we have another one coming down the shoot,” Ziperski said of the win against Mount Horeb and the upcoming game against Edgewood. “The excitement will be short-lived. We have basically 48 hours or less to do this. With a little bit of luck and a lot of skill hopefully we can bring our best to the Edgewood game.”