Spartans Fall at New Richmond

 

The Superior Spartans boys soccer teams traveled to New Richmond on Friday night for a battle with the Tigers of the Big Rivers Conference.  Over the last few years the two schools have matched up with close contests, including a 1-1 tie last season.  

Unfortunately, the Spartans came out flat and New Richmond was gunning.  The Tigers struck first with a goal on some solid passing to take a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the game.  Superior settled down and the game was a back and forth battle.  New Richmond was physically aggressive, and the Spartans had to adjust.  In the last few minutes of the first half, Superior finally started stringing together some passes and possession.  The momentum turned to the Spartans but the score held at 1-0 through halftime.

In the second half, we struggled to get settled and couldn't produce anything dangerous toward the Tiger goal.  Eventually New Richmond doubled their lead with 15 minutes remaining.  However, that woke up Superior and the rest of the game we had the momentum and control.  On a free kick from 40-50 yards out sophomore Marc Pagnucci played a perfect ball into the box and junior Spencer Kidd headed it home for his fourth goal of the season.  That made the score 2-1 with 9:56 remaining.  Superior pressed and with less than three minutes left another string of passes led to a shot from Kidd that went just wide.  In the end that was all we could muster and New Richmond held on for the 2-1 victory.  Junior Brady Bachand made six saves in goal.  Due to his reliable and consistent play in defense, senior Jack Mueller was named the man of the match by the captains.  It was a frustrating result, but the boys are determined to learn lessons and not forget the feeling we were left with when the final horn sounded.  Superior now falls to 1-1 on the season.

On the bright side, our JV Spartans are coming home with a victory!  In a hard fought battle that was back and forth in the midfield, Superior played strong defense and finished their first shot on goal when junior Griffin Dallum headed home a corner kick from senior Ryan Pettingill in the second half. That was all we needed as freshmen goalies Keagan Shannon and Demion Campbell each played a half and shared the shutout.  Our JV team is now 2-0 to start the season!

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday night when we host Rice Lake.  JV plays at the Swamp at 5:00pm and varsity will be at the NBC Spartans Sports Complex at 7:00pm.  We hope to see you out at the game!  Go Spartans!!!

JV Spartans Open Season With a Win

 

Our Junior Varsity Spartans opened the season tonight with a matchup against the newly started Duluth Denfeld "C" team at Lincoln Park Middle School.  It was a beautiful night for a soccer, with a great view of the Twin Ports.

Several of the Spartans were playing in their first ever high school soccer game, and it showed with some hesitation and nervous play to start.  But Superior seemed to settle in and hold the advantage in possession.  Unfortunately, we were not able to score in the first half.  We even had a chance with a penalty shot, but it was saved by the Denfeld goalie.  We went into halftime tied 0-0.

However, the second half was a different story!  Superior came out much stronger and more aggressive.  We created more opportunities and continue to press.  Eventually sophomore Oliver Farell broke through with a goal that deflected off the goalie and in to give the Spartans the 1-0 lead.  Not long after that it was junior Mason Specht who struck a beautiful long shot over the goalie and into the back of the net.  Farell finished the scoring with a nice shot on an assist from junior Griffin Dallum.  Freshman Demion Campbell secured the shutout with 6 saves in his first ever game as goalie!  Shout out to our defense for shutting down the Denfeld attack.  

The final score:  Spartans 3, Hunters 0.  Superior JV starts the season 1-0!  Both teams are headed to New Richmond on Friday.  JV will play at 5pm and Varsity will be at 7pm.

Let's go Spartans!!!

Spartans Victorious in Season Opener

 

The Spartans opened the season at home against the Castle Guards of Washburn on a beautiful Tuesday night in Superior.  Both teams started slow and seemed to be feeling each other out, but it was Superior who held the advantage in possession.  Eventually in the 28th minute, the Spartans broke through first with a goal from junior forward Spencer Kidd, assisted by sophomore Zack Monaghan.  That was the only scoring in the first half as the teams went into halftime with Superior ahead 1-0.

The second half started much stronger for Superior, as the Spartans created more shots on goal and corner kicks in the first 10 minutes than in the entire first half.  Once again it was Kidd scoring a goal, this time assisted by senior Peyton Franta.  Less than five minutes later, junior Aiden Pagnucci took a hard shot that deflected off the Washburn goalie, where Kidd cleaned it up for a hat trick on the day and a 3-0 lead.

The Spartans added two more goals in the last ten minutes.  Sophomore Marc Pagnucci had the goal of the day on a well placed power shot from 30 yards out assisted by sophomore Henry Haugen.  And with just two minutes left in the game it was Aiden Pagnucci with a low shot deflecting off the goalie and in.  Assist on the final goal went to sophomore Mannix James.  Junior Brady Bachand and freshman Keagan Shannon each played a half to share the shutout victory in goal.

The final score: Superior Spartans 5, Washburn Castle Guards 0.  The Spartans are 1-0 and next head to New Richmond for a Friday night game.

With the season opening hat trick, your Spartans Man of the Match as chosen by the captains, was Spencer Kidd (pictured above).

Our JV team was not in action tonight as Washburn does not have a JV program.  Spartans JV open the season at Lincoln Park Middle School on Thursday at 6pm against Duluth Denfeld "C" team.  

Great start to the season - Let's go Spartans!!!

2025 Season Preview

 

The 2025 Season has already started with practices, and our first game is set for Tuesday night with a varsity only match at home against Washburn at 5:00pm.  JV will begin play on Thursday night at Lincoln Park Middle School against Duluth Denfeld "C" at 6:00pm.  Both teams will be traveling to New Richmond on Friday.  The Spartans are ready to go!

This season our team is once again led by Head Coach Otto Berti.  Coach Berti began coaching the Spartans in 2014 as the JV coach and is entering his 10th season as the varsity coach.  Otto brings back two assistants from last year.  JV Coach Thomas Bush and Volunteer Assistant Evan Ridd.  Coach Bush began coaching the Spartans in 2007 as the JV coach, was varsity coach 2009-2011, and is entering his 9th season in the program.  Coach Ridd returns for his second season after a successful playing career at UWS.

The Spartans return 15 varsity players from last season when we finished 10-5-4 as the 5th seed in WIAA regional playoffs and a 4th place finish in the LSC conference.  This year's captains are senior Peyton Franta, juniors Spencer Kidd and Aiden Pagnucci, and sophomore Marc Pagnucci.  Kidd returns as our leading goal scorer from the last two seasons, notching 15 goals in 2023 and another 25 in 2024.  Another key returning senior will be Evan Strauch, who was second on the team in assists in 2024.  In goal the Spartans will have junior Brady Bachand and freshman Keagan Shannon.

There are 41 boys registered in the program this year.  12 seniors, 11 juniors, 11 sophomores, and 7 freshman.  The varsity team will play 18 total games, 8 at home at the NBC Spartans Sports Complex and 10 on the road.  The JV team will play 19 total games, 7 at home and 12 on the road.

The Spartans have been challenged to set individual and team goals in 2025.  The coaching staff is looking to win the LSC Conference for the first time since 2001, and looking to host a playoff game with a #4 seed or higher for the first time since 2021.  We can't wait for this season to start, we hope you enjoy following and rooting on the Spartans.  Our varsity schedule is posted on the right side of this blog, and we plan to update the blog with game reports after every varsity and JV game.

Thank you for your support and GO SPARTANS!!!

The 2025 season officially starts TODAY!

 

We are finally here!  The 2025 season starts today.  All players should be registered with a physical on file with the Athletic Department at SHS.

Here is the schedule for this week:

Monday, August 18 - First day of tryouts - 4:00-6:30pm on the main soccer complex.

Tuesday, August 19 - Second day of tryouts - 4:00-6:30pm on the baseball field.

Wednesday, August 20 - Rosters will be posted - JV/Varsity practice 4:00-6:30pm on the baseball field.

Thursday, August 21 - JV/Varsity practice 4:00-6:30pm on the main soccer complex.

Friday, August 22 - JV/Varsity practice 4:00-6:30pm on the main soccer complex.

Let's go Spartans!!!

Mini-Golf

 

As we continue our pre-season conditioning, our tradition has been to have some fun activities for the boys to enjoy while they relentlessly work on getting into soccer shape.  Last week we went to Barker's Island for some mini-golf.  Lots of fun, a few pretty good golfers, and some that gave us more laughs than anything else!

This is our last week of conditioning.  Including our annual fun run!  Friday will wrap up the pre-season and on Monday, August 18th we begin the season with tryouts at the main complex starting at 4:00pm.

We can't wait to get this season started!