Under the Friday night lights, the Spartans boys soccer team hosted the New Richmond Tigers for the 2026 regular season finale. Historically this has been a close match up between these competitive programs, and this year was no different. Superior was hoping to come out strong as they prepare for the coming playoffs next Tuesday. In the opening moments, a corner kick was earned for the Spartans. Senior captain Chase Danielson took the corner kick that went long to junior Mannix James, who shot back to the previous side. That's where Danielson beat a defender and coolly deposited the ball back into the far corner of the goal. It was the fastest goal of the season for Superior, just 51 seconds in and it was 1-0.
New Richmond calmed down, but Superior dominated play. Eventually the Tigers broke through the Spartan defense, and slipped the ball past senior goalie Brady Bachand to tie the game at the 11 minute mark. The rest of the half was controlled by the Spartans, taking a 7-3 advantage of shots on goal. The second half started just as hot for Superior. Less than 2 minutes in it was a breakaway for sophomore Titus Thompson who was taken out by the goalie, no foul was called. The defense played the ball out to senior Jem Pontillas, who rocketed a shot off the crossbar and in. But a Tiger defender was blocking the referees view and no goal was called. About 10 minutes later, junior Henry Haugen took possession in the middle of the field and played a perfect ball through the middle towards Thompson, who beat the defense to the ball and shot past the goalie before he could get there. It was a clean finish to give a 2-1 lead and all the momentum to Superior.
The Spartans had plenty of other chances but could not put another goal in. The Tigers only had one true chance in the last few minutes of the second half, and Bachand took care of business with his fourth and final save of the night. Superior finished strong to win 2-1. It was their 7th consecutive victory and puts the Spartans final regular season record at 17-2-1. The 17 wins are the most ever in a single season for the Spartan boys soccer team. Next up are the WIAA playoffs where Superior is the #4 seed in Division 1 - Section 1 and will host the #5 Wisconsin Rapids Red Raiders on Tuesday, October 20th at 6pm at NBC Spartans Sports Complex. Come out and support the Spartans as they continue on in this historic season.
The JV team was also in action for the final time this season. While the game started close, and the JV Spartans played well at times, it was all Tigers. The game was scoreless until New Richmond notched two goals in the last ten minutes of the first half. They added three more in the second half, including an own goal to win the game by a final score of 5-0. Freshman Liam Perrault had 14 saves in net for Superior. JV captain Everett Kliegle had two shots on goal to lead the Spartans who were outshot 18-5. Superior JV ends the season with a record of 8-13-1. There was lots of growth and improvement over the season, and many lessons learned for the junior varsity. Congrats on a great season boys!
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