So, it has been 8 days since my last post. It happened last year as well, I just needed a good week after Memorial got beat to let my system reset and get back into the groove on the blog. It is hard when a team you follow goes down. It is especially hard if they go down they way Memorial did. The title of the last blog was accurate. It was Epic….just not the kind of epic we all wanted. But life and soccer move on, with or without Memorial in the playoffs. I will get some season recap blogs organized and try to wrap up the season and project a little moving forward to 2019.
Until then, let’s get caught up on the playoffs and see what has happened since Memorial got knocked out.
Division 1 Recap
Sectional 1 Results.
#1 Green Bay Preble defeats #5 Appleton North. The game ends 0-0 and Preble wins the PK shoot out 5-3. So the PK shoot out giveth, Appleton North defeated Memorial 10-9 is the Epic battle previously blogged about but then, the PK shoot out taketh away. Appleton North experienced the incredible high of the epic win, quickly followed by the incredible low of losing to the #1 seed just four days later. An emotional roller coaster for sure after their game against Memorial. 0-0 games sound bad but can be incredibly stressful to play in and watch.
#3 Hudson defeated #2 Kimberly 2-0 to advance to the Sectional Finals.
Green Bay Preble (predicted by a local up and coming soccer blogger to be the team to defeat if you wanted to make it to state) defeats Hudson 2-1 to Advance to State. Congrats to Hudson for advancing to the Sectional Finals. Green Bay Preble was the second best team I watched this year. Oregon was the best team I saw.
Other teams advancing.
#2 Hamilton defeated #7 Arrowhead, #6 Homestead, and #5 Oshkost West to advance to State. The #1 seed Neenah got knocked off by Oshkosh West. The same Oshkosh West that lost to Madison East who we beat in our weekend Quad a month ago. Probably the highlight of Memorials season was the two games in Milwaukee defeating Wauwatosa and Madison East.
#5 Sun Prairie knocked off #4 Middleton, #1 Verona, and #2 Kettle Moraine on their way to qualifying for State. An impressive run. Three upsets in three days. The conference in Madison was loaded with 3-4 Top 10 teams and obviously it prepared Sun Prairie for the playoffs and a deep run.
And in the least surprising news of the year, Marquette qualifies for State. Winning their 4 games by a combined 30-0. No OT games. No PK shoot outs. No epic battles, No drama. 10-0, 6-0, 8-0, 6-0. This is a real problem in soccer in Division 1 in the State of Wisconsin. Marquette , and other private schools should not be in the same division as the Public Schools. No way, no how, not right, doesn’t make any sense, and why doesn’t anyone do something about it. It is so painfully obvious.
Marquette Rant Now Officially Beginning.
For some reason the State of Wisconsin and the WIAA decided in 2000 they should combine the public and private schools championships. Not sure then other sports, but in soccer it is not working. Lets take a quick walk down memory lane since 2000. This will be the 19th year since they joined the groups together. It will be Marquette’s 18th appearance in State. Only 1 year, 2013, that Marquette did not qualify for the state tournament. How awful would it have been to be a Senior on that team, I mean really, how embarrassing. How about the reunion in 2023, I might skip that reunion. How can you show your face. A quick recap of their performance over the last 18 years of tournaments.
First Place -13 Times
Runner Up- 2 times
Semi-Finals – 2 times
Missed State Playoffs – 1 time
83% of the time , Marquette makes the State Finals.
72% of the time, Marquette wins the State Championship
95% of the time, Marquette makes the Final Four
That’s just dumb really. I mean, the only thing worse than being in Division 1 soccer is if you were a participant in Sectional 4, where Marquette is placed. I mean, how would you even approach the season. Okay boys, here we are, another start to our season. Let’s set our goals this year.
-Make the Division 4 playoffs.
-Try to get placed in the opposite side of the bracket from Marquette. Maybe even lose a game late in the season so your seeding changes and you are on the opposite side of the bracket from Marquette.
-Make it to the Sectional Finals
-Hope you don’t get beat 10-0 by Marquette in the Sectional Finals.
I mean, really, only 1 time in 19 years they have missed winning Sectional 4. This should be fixed. It is not right. Why would Marquette even want to participate in the Wisconsin State tournament. Why don’t they just opt out of it and go play a National tournament. It is not really a competition for them. See notes above for average winning score of 7.5- 0 in Sectionals this year. What’s the point really. Yeah! We won the State Tournament…..again.
Marquette Rant Officially Ending Now
Whew…that felt good. Breathing a bit easier now. Let’s move on from big bad Marquette.
State Semi-finals Schedule.
DIVISION 1
Semifinals: Friday, Nov. 2
Game-1: #1 Marquette (18-1-2) vs. #4 Sun Prairie (14-5-3) – 11 a.m.
Game-2: #2 Hamilton (15-1-3) vs. #3 Green Bay Preble (17-1-6) – 1:30 p.m.
Championship Game: Saturday, Nov. 3
Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 – 4:30 p.m.
DIVISION 2
Semifinals: Thursday, Nov. 1
Game-1: #1 Cedarburg (15-2-2) vs. #4 New Berlin Eisenhower (16-3-1) – 4:30 p.m.
Game-2: #2 Oregon (18-2-2) vs. #3 Holmen (22-1-1) – 7 p.m.
Championship Game: Saturday, Nov. 3
Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 – 1:30 p.m.
DIVISION 3
Semifinals: Thursday, Nov. 1
Game-1: #1 McFarland (18-4) vs. #4 Plymouth (14-4-5) – 11 a.m.
Game-2: #2 Pius XI Catholic (20-3-2) vs. #3 Baldwin-Woodville (20-0-2) – 1:30 p.m.
Championship Game: Saturday, Nov. 3
Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 – 11 a.m.
DIVISION 4
Semifinals: Friday, Nov. 2
Game-1: #1 University School of Milwaukee (16-2-1) vs. #4 Sturgeon Bay (16-7-1) – 4:30 p.m.
Game-2: #2 Amery (17-0-4) vs. #3 Kettle Moraine Lutheran (15-5-3) – 7 p.m.
Championship Game: Saturday, Nov. 3
Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 – 7 p.m.
Local Notes:
-New Richmond beat River Falls in D2 Regional Finals but lost to Holmen in the next round.
-Rice Lake lost to Baldwin-Woodville in the Sectional Finals to make it to State. Baldwin-Woodville has an all state player planning to play D1 College soccer and a real shot to win the it all.
-Regis had a tough draw losing in the first round to Amery who qualified for State in D4.
-Watch out for Oregon in D2. A real chance to win State. Best team I saw play this year. We played them tough, losing 2-0, but they looked really good!!
-Can GB Preble make it to the State Finals. Can Sun Prairie shock the world and take down Marquette looking for their 5th Straight State title. Yes, you heard that right, 5th straight. That’s just dumb. Mini-rant now over!
Planning a Premier League update in the next few days, so check back in. Now that I have fully recovered from the Memorial loss, I will get back to regular updates. Check back in a spread the word about West Wisconsin Soccer Talk.
Thanks for checking us out!!