Eagles’ soccer team keeps rolling

It was a unique span of five days for Sauk Prairie’s boys soccer team last week with one game postponed due to inclement weather and two other matches being moved from the football stadium to a nearby practice field. “We didn’t get on the field all week,” Sauk Prairie coach Drew Kornish said. “We played both of our games on the practice field just to stay off of it. It was like U-12 style of bring your own chairs and watch some free soccer. “The boys embraced it. They enjoyed having the fans right up on the field. It was a fun environment to play in, obviously a little bit different. They made the best of it.” They did, indeed. Senior forward Evan Carlson recorded his third hat trick of the season finishing with three goals and an assist, to spark Sauk Prairie to an 8-0 non-conference victory against visiting Richland Center last Friday. Sophomore midfielder Quinn Baier then notched his first career hat trick with four goals and added an assist in a 6-0 non-conference victory over visiting Monroe on Saturday. Sauk Prairie (11-2-1 overall, 2-0-1 Badger North), ranked eighth in the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association Division 2 poll last week, has allowed just 12 goals all season. The Eagles continued their dominance on defense in extending their shutout streak to five games. “It speaks volumes for the back five,” Kornish said. “It starts with (goalkeeper) Riley (Jelinek) settling in and the defenders we have rotating through there. “But whoever we put on that back line really steps up for us. They take a lot of pride in keeping that shutout. So even when games start to get out of hand as far as the score goes, those guys still play hard the full 90 minutes and take pride in keeping that clean sheet.” Kornish said it has been a “real team effort”. “Trevor Spray, Austin Wederits, Blake Gibbs, Aaron Frey and Austin Keyser are all in the mix and doing a great job,” Kornish said. Following is a look back at last week: • Sauk Prairie 8, Richland Center 0 — Seniors Simon Enerson, Evan Carlson and Jakob Wilson all scored goals in a two-minute span in the first half to spark the Eagles’ rout of the visiting Hornets in non-conference play. Carlson scored the second of his three goals, and sophomore Sam Drescher also found the back of the net before halftime to stake Sauk Prairie to a 5-0 lead. Caleb Pugh, Carlson and Baier added goals in the second half for the Eagles. “We know what we’re going to get from Evan game in and game out,” Kornish said of Carlson’s third hat trick of the season. “In games like that, it’s fantastic. But if we continue to grow here, it will come down to who else can step up for us. “As we move toward the later part of the season, teams have seen us at least once and if they haven’t seen us they’ve at least seen tape or they have the stats on us. Evan’s name stands out there, and he’s going to get a lot of attention. So, we will need other guys to continue to step up and play bigger roles for us.” Riley Jelinek made two saves to preserve Sauk Prairie’s eighth shutout of the season. • Sauk Prairie 6, Monroe 0 — Midfielder Quinn Baier scored three of his four goals and had an assist in the first half as the Eagles raced out to a five-goal halftime lead. Simon Enerson opened the scoring at the 7-minute mark off an assist from senior Abe Castro. Baier then slammed home an unassisted goal at 27 minutes before capping a stellar first half with two goals in the final eight minutes of the period. Senior Trent Schneeberger also scored in the first half off an assist from Baier. “Quinn had a real nice weekend,” Kornish said. “Sam (Drescher) didn’t play (Saturday) so Quinn had to play a lot of minutes. It was nice to see him step up and play the way that we expected him to play this year.” Riley Jelinek had three saves to secure Sauk Prairie’s ninth shutout of the season. • On deck: Following a Badger North Conference game vs. DeForest on Tuesday, Sauk Prairie will host Milton in a non-conference match on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Eagles will host Reedsburg in a rescheduled Badger North Conference game on Saturday at noon and meet Waunakee in a league match on Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. Oct.4 Sauk Prairie 8, Richland Center 0 Richland Center .. 0 0 – 0 Sauk Prairie …… 5 3 – 8 First half: SP – Simon Enerson (Evan Carlson), 17:00; Carlson (S. Enerson), 18:00; Jakob Wilson (Joe Baumgardt), 19:00; Carlson (Quinn Baier), 25:00; Sam Drescher, 39:00. Second half: SP – Caleb Pugh, 49:00; Carlson (S. Enerson), 65:00; Baier (Eddie Breunig), 84:00. Saves: RC (Wright) 7, SP (Riley Jelinek) 2. Oct. 5 Sauk Prairie 6, Monroe 0. Monroe …….....… 0 0 – 0 Sauk Prairie .....… 5 1 – 6 First half: SP – Simon Enerson (Abe Castro), 7:00; Quinn Baier, 27:00; Trent Schneeberger (Baier), 30:00; Baier (S. Enerson), 37:00; Baier (Aaron Frey), 43:00. Second half: SP – Baier (Joe Baumgardt), 65:00. Saves: M (Julio) 8, SP (Riley Jelinek) 3. GIRLS SWIMMING For high school swimmers, these are the ‘dog days’ of the season. “We’re grinding hard, we’ve got doubles three days a week,” Sauk Prairie girls’ swimming coach Melani Guentherman said. “With weight-lifting and the double workouts, it’s a grind.” But that didn’t keep the Eagles from winning their third consecutive conference dual meet. Sophomore Kassandra Miller recorded two individual titles and swam on two winning relays to spark Sauk Prairie to an impressive 121-49 victory over visiting River Valley/Richland Center in a Badger North Conference dual last Thursday. “All in all the girls had a great meet,” Guentherman said. “We tried out some different races for a lot of the girls and swam some different lineups than they were used to and had a lot of mid-season success.” The home dual, though, was originally scheduled for Oct. 1 but was postponed because of the potential of thunderstorms in the area that would have made the pool unsafe. However, the Eagles didn’t get the night completely off when the threat of thunderstorms later abated. “They were super disappointed because they were ready for the meet but then when I made them practice they weren’t happy, and of course it was a challenging workout,” Guentherman said. “So, they were thrilled to have a meet on Thursday.” Sauk Prairie won seven of the eight individual races and swept all three relays to improve to 3-1 in the conference race. The Eagles got the night off to a great start when the quartet of Miller, sophomore Amelia Hunter, senior Alexa Judd and sophomore Ashley Pape won the 200-yard medley in 2 minutes, 1.87 seconds. Miller later won the 100 butterfly (1:04.44) and the 100 backstroke (1:04.56) before closing out the meet as a member of the winning 400 freestyle relay that included Pape, senior Abbey McCumber and Judd and finished in 4:05.95 “Kass had another good night,” Guentherman said. “She hadn’t swam the 100 fly and the 100 back in a while, so she got to swim them and had some nice swims.” Junior Lauryn Drager earned three first-place finishes, claiming titles in the 100 freestyle (:59.97) and 100 breaststroke (1:16.97) and swimming on the winning 200 freestyle relay with freshman Riley Talmage, Hunter and junior Grace Orr (1:52.45). “Lauryn swam a life-time best in the 100 free and she was pretty excited,” Guentherman said. “We’ve been working very hard and to throw out a good time like that is always exciting.” Rounding out the individual victories for the Eagles were McCumber, who won the 200 freestyle (2:15.18), Judd, who won the 200 individual medley (2:26.80) and Hunter, who won the 50 freestyle (:27.43). • On deck: After competing in a conference dual at Baraboo on Tuesday, Sauk Prairie is off until Tuesday, Oct. 15 when the Eagles host Beaver Dam in a conference dual beginning at 6 p.m. Oct. 3 Sauk Prairie 121, River Valley/Richland Center 49 200-yard medley relay — 1, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Kassandra Miller, Amelia Hunter, Alexa Judd, Ashley Pape), 2:01.87; 3, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (Giulia Brickl, Lauryn Drager, Riley Talmage, Grace Orr), 2:05.76; 5, Sauk Prairie ‘C’ (Carly Coy, Jade Babcock, Klaire Baier, Audrie Nurkala), 2:51.22. 200 freestyle — 1, Abbey McCumber, SP, 2:15.18; 2, tie, Summer Acker, SP, and Emily Vande Hey, SP, 2:18.75. 200 individual medley — 1 Judd, SP, 2:26.80; 2, Orr, SP, 2:34.10; 4, Coy, SP, 2:44.46. 50 freestyle — 1, Hunter, SP, :27.43; 2, Pape, SP, :27.48; 3, Talmage, SP, :28.01. 100 butterfly — 1, Miller, SP, 1:04.44; 3, Talmage, SP, 1:06.36; 4, Hunter, SP, 1:13.39. 100 freestyle — 1, Drager, SP, :59.97; 3, McCumber, SP, 1:03.42; 5, Brickl, SP, 1:05.69. 500 freestyle — 1, Nachreiner, RV/RC, 5:53.36; 2, Acker, SP, 6:04.63; 3, Pape, SP, 6:18.42; 4, Coy, SP, 6:26.72. 200 freestyle relay — 1, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Talmage, Drager, Hunter, Orr), 1:52.45; 3, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (Vande Hey, McCumber, Allyson Saladis, Acker), 2:00.01. 100 backstroke — 1, Miller, SP, 1:04.56; 2, Judd, SP, 1:05.65; 4, Brickl, SP, 1:12.93. 100 breaststroke — 1, Drager, SP, 1:16.97; 2, Orr, SP, 1:22.18; 4, Vande Hey, SP, 1:27.54. 400 freestyle relay — 1, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Miller, Pape, McCumber, Judd), 4:05.95; 3, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (Coy, Brickl, Acker, Vande Hey), 4:27.84.