By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
With just about 15 minutes left in a Rock Valley Conference Tournament game Monday night, the Big Foot-Williams Bay boys soccer team was within striking distance of McFarland.
In the span of just five minutes, however, McFarland’s Alex Sonday took over.
Sonday scored three quick goals to lead the Spartans to a 5-1 victory at Breese Stevens Field, Madison, that ended Big Foot’s regular season at 10-5-2 overall.
With time winding down, Big Foot coach Keith Blakeman knew his team had to go on the offensive, which left Sonday just enough of an opening to go to work.
“As we started pushing players farther forward to even the score, we were more exposed to counter attacks,” he said. “McFarland is built to counter through the outside players and Sonday had a game and scored three. We just didn’t have an answer for him.”
McFarland built a 2-0 lead with goals at the 17- and 48-minute marks before the Chiefs cut the deficit in half on an unassisted goal by Colton Oldenburg at the 67-minute mark.
Oldenburg took advantage of a loose ball from about 30 yards away, Blakeman said.
“He struck it well and beat the keeper to the upper corner,” he said. “It was a very nice shot, and I think a deserved outcome from the pressure we were exerting.”
Big Foot goalie Lars Larsen had nine saves in the loss.
Even in defeat, Blakeman saw several positives.
“I thought we played pretty well throughout,” he said. “We struggled to create good scoring chances against a very good defense and limited their very quick forwards until the end.”
A tie in the opener
Big Foot opened the RVC tournament with a 2-2 tie against Evansville Oct. 6, in a match played at Williams Bay.
Williams Bay’s Cory Shea tied things up at 1-1 with a goal off a crossing pass from Manny Bernal at the 33-minute mark, followed by an unassisted goal by Juan Mercado at the 66-minute mark that gave the Chiefs a 2-1 lead.
“Cory (took) the ball at the top of the penalty area, and then beat a defender to create the scoring chance, and he finished well,” Blakeman said.
“Juan’s goal was scored from the midfield as the ball found him in space maybe 35 yards out, and he hit a very sweet shot.”
Evansville tied the match with seven minutes left, and that’s how it ended.
“We did not close down their player in possession quickly, leaving him the space and time to take a pretty good shot,” Blakeman said.
Larson finished the night with six saves for the Chiefs.
Big Foot had its chances throughout the match but couldn’t convert, Blakeman said.
“Our failure to finish enough opportunities allowed Evansville to stay in the game,” he said. “If we had finished more of our chances, they probably would not have been able to tie the game. I thought we controlled the midfield for long periods and limited their chances.”
Regional next
Big Foot is set to open Division 2 regional tournament play Tuesday, Oct. 18. Pairings had not been announced as of early this week.
With the regular season now complete, it’s time to focus on the next goal, Blakeman said.
“We have set a goal of (being) regional champion this season,” he said. “This will require us to solve our finishing problems and defend more consistently. We have done these things in important games this season and just need to find that formula again.”
Whatever happens from here, Blakeman said this group has plenty to be proud of this season.
“We finished second in our conference, (won) two tournament titles, finished our fifth consecutive season with 10 or more wins and completed our fourth consecutive winning season,” he said.
“This group of seniors has helped create one of the best periods in recent memory for our program.”
