Spartans nip East in sectional

The Wauwatosa East soccer team did their job defensively, but they couldn't get on the scoreboard and thus dropped a 1-0 decision Oct. 20 at Brookfield East in the state sectional semi-finals.

The final result was the same as it was in late August, when the two teams squared off in conference play.

"I have nothing but praise for both our side and Brookfield East," Red Raiders coach Eric Dale said. "It was a battle in all areas. Lots of challenged balls, fast counter-attacking, excellent defending. I just feel bad about the end result. Two really good teams played tonight for a right to go to the final."

The Spartans defeated top-seeded Menomonee Falls, 2-0, Saturday night to advance to this week's state tournament at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee.

The first half was a stalemate, as both sides felt one another out, hoping to expose holes in the defense.

"Our plan was to capitalize on an instance of either Mark Heydt or Peter Tongas coming too far forward," Dale said. "In our last match against them, Tongas looked as though he wanted to push forward into the attack. But he played a fantastically-disciplined match at center back.

"He stayed home on defense a lot, forcing our center midfield's hand a bit. Heydt, however, caused us fits on the outside."

Heydt, a fast, talented outside midfielder, was responsible for the lone score of the match 10 minutes into the second half.

Brookfield East attacker John Orgovan served a beautiful ball from the outside into a streaking Heydt, coming to the middle of the field from the outside left. Gathering the ball in stride, with a defender on his hip, he placed a well-struck shot with his right foot just over the outstretched hands of Tosa East goalkeeper, Kyle Mabie.

"It really was a nice goal, and we had it fairly well-defended, too," Dale said. "Great players make big plays in matches like this, and he responded."

The Raiders had a few opportunities to tie the score, especially in the last 15 minutes of the match, as they put three attackers up top. The Spartans toned down their ferocious attack and were content to play stout defense down the stretch.

"I thought we could expose some tendencies of their defenders to play forward too much, but again, they played incredibly disciplined from the back tonight," Dale said. "We did not get a lot of clean looks at goal."

The Raiders finished the season at 13-10 overall and undoubtedly were playing their best soccer of the season the last few weeks.

"Beating Brookfield Central for a regional championship is something nobody can take away from these players," Dale said. "Our senior leadership this season was fantastic. Our strength of schedule was second to none in the entire state. We pride ourselves on playing a tough schedule as it says we aren't afraid to play great teams. And this season, we played incredibly well against those teams.

"We beat second-ranked Middleton (1-0), lost (2-1) to state-ranked Madison West, lost (2-0) to nationally ranked Marquette, and lost in overtime (4-3) to state-ranked Waukesha West.

"Our résumé is pretty impressive, and I have nothing but praise and admiration for our side. They're a tough bunch of kids who I've enjoyed coaching."