Eagles’ soccer team seeded 4th

Sauk Prairie boys’ soccer coach Drew Kornish was hopeful when he attended a seeding meeting for WIAA Division 2 postseason play on Sunday. But the Eagles received a No. 4 seed and will host No. 13 seeded Westosha Central when regional competition begins on Tuesday, Oct. 22. “I would have liked to have been a little bit higher, that three range,” Kornish said. “That would have put us in the bottom half of the bracket. It speaks a lot to our overall strength of schedule. It just wasn’t there for us this year.” Sauk Prairie, ranked eighth in last week’s Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association Division 2 poll last week, brought a 14-2-1 record, including a 4-0-1 mark in Badger North Conference play, into the seeding meeting. “We have a ton of wins,” Kornish said. “At 14-2-1, you’re not going to get a lot of records better than that. But at the end of the day, our strength of schedule wasn’t where it needed to be. That’s something I’ll look to address in the future so that we are challenging ourselves a bit more.” Kornish pointed out that Oregon earned the No. 2 seed despite holding an 8-6-1 record going into the seeding meeting. “That proved quite a bit of weight goes into that strength of schedule,” he said. Other regional semifinal matches include No. 16 seeded Wilmot at No. 1 Elkhorn; No. 9 Milton at No. 8 Stoughton; No. 12 Portage/Poynette at No. 5 Baraboo; No. 14 Burlington at No. 3 Monona Grove; No. 11 Fort Atkinson at No. 6 Union Grove; No. 10 East Troy/Palmyra-Eagle at No. 7 DeForest; and No. 15 Reedsburg at No. 2 Oregon. With two of the Eagles’ toughest conference games yet to come against Waunakee on Tuesday and against Mount Horeb on Thursday, Kornish knew that his team might not get the seed he thought they deserved. “Our games with Waunakee and Mount Horeb could have helped out a lot with that,” he said. “Hopefully next year we’ll be able to get in a few more of our conference games before our seeding meeting.” The winner of the Sauk Prairie-Westosha Central match will face the winner of Portage/Poynette at Baraboo on Oct. 26. The sectional semifinals are on Thursday, Oct. 31 with the sectional championship match set for Saturday, Nov. 2. Kornish said the senior-laden Eagles are in position to accomplish some impressive goals. “We set ourselves up well for our last stretch,” Korsnish said of the Eagles, who are riding an eight-game winning streak, posted 10 shutouts and have allowed just 14 goals all season. “From the beginning, it’s been a goal to win conference. We did what we needed to do last week to make sure we were in position for that.” Kornish said the postseason is in motion for the Eagles. “This will make for an interesting week,” he said. “It’s like the playoffs start now. Each game is more important than the next.” Following is a look back at last week: • Sauk Prairie 4, DeForest 1 — Senior Evan Carlson recorded two goals and two assists and senior goalkeeper Riley Jelinek had four saves to power the Eagles past the host Norskies in a Badger North Conference game at the Goodman Sports Complex at Madison College on Oct. 8 “It was really nice having a smooth surface,” said Sauk Prairie senior defender Trevor Spray. “We could pass it where we wanted to and get good touches on the ball.” Carlson gave Sauk Prairie a 1-0 lead when he converted a penalty kick at the 15 minute, 35 second mark. Sophomore Sam Drescher made it 2-0 off an assist from Carlson at 48:04. “That really broke the ice for us there,” said Jelinek, who finished with four saves. “When we can play loose, it’s really about ‘let’s just play soccer.’ ” DeForest cut the lead in half when Drew Ciesielczyk found the back of the net 76 seconds later. That snapped Sauk Prairie’s shutout streak at five-plus games. The last goal allowed by the Eagles was in the closing seconds of a 4-1 non-conference loss to Appleton West on Sept. 21, a span of nearly 500 minutes. “It’s not a big concern with this group,” Kornish said. “They’re a big group of seniors that have seen everything before. We played from a goal down at Sun Prairie, and came back and won that one earlier in the season.” “The streaks are nice while they last, but at some point they are going to come to an end. The guys handled it very well.” Sophomore Quinn Baier added an insurance goal off an assist from Carlson at 75:09. Carlson then scored an unassisted goal at 86:58 to cap the scoring. While the shutout streak was over, Jelinek said what mattered most was the Eagles keeping their conference title hopes alive. “Nobody put their head down when they scored the goal,” he said. “Everybody was like ‘Hey, let’s go, c’mon, we’re a better team than this.’ We wanted to show we were the better team there, and we turned it on in the second half.” • Sauk Prairie 4, Milton 1 — Evan Carlson recorded a hat trick in a span of 4 minutes on ‘Senior Night’ as the host Eagles rallied to ground the visiting Red Hawks in a non-conference game last Thursday. “We have 17 seniors in the program and brought them all up for that game,” Kornish said. “We played our non-seniors on the JV to get a couple of minutes, and it worked out really well. Milton opened the scoring, converting a penalty kick in the 11th minute. But it was all Eagles after that. Senior Trent Schneeberger tied the game off a feed from senior Simon Enerson in the 15th minute, and Carlson converted a penalty kick in the 21st minute to give Sauk Prairie the lead for good. Carlson then scored off an assist from senior Caden Pugh one minute later. Carlson capped the scoring when he slammed home a penalty kick in the 25th minute. “Friday was a pretty special game with it being ‘Senior Night’,” Kornish said. “It was neat to be able to roster only seniors. It speaks for the longevity for the guys in the program. We were able to get in a group of 17 kids who as freshmen were able to see their way through the program and be able to reward them for that. “To be able to see them as a unit, was a really cool opportunity for those guys. I was real pleased on how they played together.” Riley Jelinek finished with three saves to keep Milton at bay the rest of the game. • Sauk Prairie 8, Reedsburg 0 — Simon Enerson recorded his first hat trick for the host Eagles in a Badger North Conference match last Saturday. Simon Einerson opened the scoring in the fifth minute off an assist from senior Jakob Wilson. Evan Carlson then slammed home a penalty kick in the 19th minute, and sophomore Eddie Breunig closed out the first half scoring when he drilled home an assist from Caden Pugh. “It was a little bit of a shock to the system, weather-wise,” Kornish said. “It was pretty blustery, pretty chilly out. It took us a little while to get going but the guys answered well.” Junior Joe Baumgardt and Quinn Baier contributed goals for a 5-0 lead before Enerson scored back-to-back goals in a two-minute span. Baier ended the scoring off a feed from junior Kyle Bascom in the 74th minute. Riley Jelinek had three saves to stymie Reedsburg. • On deck: Following a Badger North Conference game against Waunakee on Tuesday, Sauk Prairie will host Mount Horeb in a conference match and the regular-season finale on Friday at 7 p.m. The fourth-seeded Eagles will host 13th-seeded Westosha Central in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. Oct. 8 Sauk Prairie 4, DeForest 1 Sauk Prairie ……....… 1 3 – 4 DeForest ..…......……... 0 1 – 1 First half: SP – Evan Carlson (pk), 15:35. Second half: SP – Sam Drescher (Carlson), 48:04. D – Drew Ciesielczyk (Evan Ridd), 49:22. SP -- Quinn Baier (Carlson), 75:09; Carlson, 86:58. Saves: SP (Riley Jelinek) 4; D (Phillip McCloskey) 9. Oct. 10 Sauk Prairie 4, Milton 1 Milton .……...........…... 1 0 – 1 Sauk Prairie …............ 4 0 – 4 First half: M – Eckert (pk), 11:00. SP – Trent Schneeberger (Simon Enerson), 15:00; Evan Carlson (pk), 21:00; Carlson (Caden Pugh), 22:00; Carlson (pk), 25:00. Saves: SP (Riley Jelinek) 3; M (N/A) 8. Oct. 12 Sauk Prairie 8, Reedsburg 0 Reedsburg .….....……... 0 0 – 0 Sauk Prairie ……....… 3 5 – 8 First half: SP – Simon Enerson (Jakob Wilson), 5:00; Evan Carlson (pk), 19:00; Eddie Breunig (Caden Pugh), 32:00. Second half: SP – Joe Baumgardt, 50:00; Quinn Baier (Pugh), 54:00; S. Enerson (Baumgardt) 62:00; S. Enerson, 64:00; Baier (Kyle Bascom), 74:00. Saves: SP (Riley Jelinek) 3; R (N/A) 15.