Spartans historic season ends at Hudson

 

On Saturday afternoon the Superior Spartans traveled to #1 seeded Hudson to face the Raiders in the WIAA regional final.  It was the first game between Superior and Hudson since the 2018 season.  Superior entered the game with an 18-2-1 record and the #4 seed.  Hudson was 16-1-2 on the season and ranked as high as #2 in the state of Wisconsin.  This was going to be a tough game no matter how you play it.

Hudson came out fast and controlled the possession and the pace.  Multiple balls played into the attacking third came through to their quick forward, but senior goalie Brady Bachand played terrific and made several early saves to keep the Superior hopes alive.  Eventually the Raiders broke through down the right side but the Spartan defense kept them outside at a very bad angle.  However, the Raiders midfielder played it across the goal in what looked like a cross but ended up in the far upper corner of the goal.  Either way, it was a spectacular goal that gave Hudson a 1-0 lead at the 9:27 mark.

For the next several minutes, Superior endured the Raiders attack.  The Spartans responded well to the early deficit, but just couldn't get possession long enough to create their own attack.  The defense held strong and Bachand continued to turn away breakaway after breakaway.  Hudson earned a corner kick that was placed beautifully into the box and headed home to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead at 36:42.  Superior persevered and the score remained 2-0 at halftime.

Unfortunately, Superior could not break into the Hudson defense.  While there were moments of great play, too many mistakes against a very clinical Raiders team was the story.  Hudson scored in the 48th, 56th, and 67th minutes of the second half to easily control the final outcome, 5-0.  Bachand still played great in goal and finished with 15 saves.  Superior did end up with 5 shots on goal, including 3 from senior captain Spencer Kidd, but none got past the Hudson defense or goalie.  The Spartans season ends at 18-3-1 and the furthest we have ever advanced in the WIAA playoffs.  

What an amazing season it was.  While we are saddened that it has officially come to an end, we will continue to look back with pride and joy on what great memories we have from this team.  We thank our 9 seniors who have played their final high school game and have had such a great impact on our program.  More highlights and memories to come.  The team will be having our annual paintball party on Friday and will be gathering for a postseason banquet on Sunday, November 8th.  We will continue to post and share some post season awards and thoughts and then begin looking towards the 2027 season!

But for now - we thank our Spartan boys soccer team for one heck of a ride.  Congrats on the winningest season in school history and some awesome memories.  And thank you to all our parents/families/supporters who followed us all along the way.  Let's go Spartans! 

What a night! Home playoff win and 100+ career goals for Kidd

 

On Tuesday night, the Spartans hosted their third ever home playoff game and second in a row.  Superior finished the season 17-2-1 and earned the #4 seed in the playoffs for a matchup against the Wisconsin Rapids Red Raiders.  Earlier in the season, the Spartans defeated Rapids at a neutral site by a score of 4-1.  It was a beautiful night for playoff soccer.

The game did not start out great for Superior, as Rapids earned a corner kick in the sixth minute.  The ball deflected off a Spartan defender and Rapids knocked it in for the early 1-0 lead.  The game was back and forth but eventually sophomore forward Titus Thompson was taken down in the box and given a penalty kick.  Senior captain Spencer Kidd converted the penalty to tie the game 1-1 in the eleventh minute.  It was his 100th career goal.  More on that later...

The game continued as both teams created scoring chances, including multiple breakaways for the Red Raiders.  But each time senior goalie Brady Bachand was up to the task.  At halftime the score remained 1-1.  In the second half, it was Superior who struck first.  In the 48th minute, the Spartans earned a corner kick that was taken by senior captain Aiden Pagnucci.  The kick was deflected by the goalie off the crossbar.  Thompson beat the defense to the ball and headed it home for the 2-1 lead.  With the lead and the momentum, Superior began to dominate the pace of play.  In the 65th minute, sophomore Demion Campbell won the ball in the box and cleared to open space before sending a cross right through the front of the goal.  Kidd was waiting on the back side to deflect the ball into the net for his second goal of the night and 101st of his career.

Superior held off the Red Raiders the rest of the way to earn a 3-1 victory and advance to the second round of the playoffs with a record of 18-2-1.  Bachand finished with 11 saves.  The Spartans will next travel to Hudson to face the #1 seeded Raiders on Saturday, October 24.

As mentioned, with his two goals on the night, Spencer Kidd has moved past 100 goals for his career.  The game ball was given to Kidd and his family and the boys took a moment to honor the accomplishment as a team after the game.  Kidd finished the 2023 season with 16 goals, 2024 with 25 goals, 2025 with 29 goals, and sits at 31 goals this season!  Well done young man!

It was a wonderful night for Superior Spartan Boys Soccer.  This team continues to break records and make history.  18 wins adds to their record of most in school history.  And now that is the third ever WIAA playoff victory for the Spartans.  Congratulations to the boys and good luck in the next round.  Let's go Spartans!

Home playoff game tonight!

 

Spartans tame Tigers to finish 17-2-1

 

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! 

JV drops final road game of the season

 

On Tuesday night, the JV team traveled over the bridge for a match with the Duluth East "B" team.  Earlier in the season, our JV defeated the East "C" team by a score of 4-2 at "The Swamp."  This game would have a different result.

The Greyhounds got on the board first, scoring with 17 minutes left in the first half on a penalty kick that was their first shot on goal.  Prior to that, the Spartans dominated possession and chances.  Superior kept their heads and battled on.  Unfortunately, East snuck another goal in right before halftime to lead 2-0.  After gathering for a break, the Spartans came back out with intensity in the second half.  Superior was able to earn several corner kicks and shots inside the goal area, but just could not get anything past the East goalie.  With 13 minutes left in the game, the Greyhounds struck again to tighten their grip on the lead 3-0.  Superior never gave up, but did allow another goal with 4 minutes left.  Battling to the end, the final score was 4-0.

Freshman goalie Liam Perrault finished with 4 saves on the night.  Freshman Henry Farell had two shots on goal, while sophomores Everett Kliegle and Demion Campbell also produced a shot on goal.  There were plenty of opportunities, and even a couple missed shots on open nets.  While it was a frustrating game in that regard, Superior had a positive attitude and look forward to finishing the season on a high note at home this Friday night in the season finale against New Richmond.  JV will be at 5pm and varsity will kick off at 7pm.

Go Spartans!

LSC All-Conference Honors - *EDITED*

 

Congratulations to our Spartans who were honored with Lake Superior Conference All-Conference recognition:

Spencer Kidd - 1st Team

Marc Pagnucci - 1st Team

Aiden Pagnucci - 2nd Team

Brady Bachand - 2nd Team

Mannix James - Honorable Mention

Well done boys!  And congrats to all our Spartans who collectively work as a team to make each individual player that much better.  Let's go Spartans!

Superior defeats Hayward for school record 16th win on the season

On Tuesday afternoon the Spartans traveled to Hayward to face off against the Hurricanes.  Several players were unavailable due to injury, including junior captain Marc Pagnucci who will be out for the remainder of the season.  Unfortunately, the injury bug continued to bite Superior.  Just 12 minutes into the game, sophomore goalie Keagan Shannon took a kick to the head and went down.  He did not return to the game.  Senior Brady Bachand replaced him in net.  After settling down, the Spartans finally started getting some shots and attack on goal.  Eventually, it was senior captain Spencer Kidd scoring unassisted to give Superior the 1-0 lead.  Just before halftime, Kidd sent in a low cross to junior forward Zack Monaghan who deflected the ball into the net for a 2-0 lead.  

In the second half, the Spartans were quicker to get on the board.  This time it was senior captain Aiden Pagnucci scoring from long range on an assist from Monaghan to give Superior a comfortable 3-0 lead.  In the 58th minute, sophomore forward Titus Thompson won a ball and sent a nice cross into the goal area where Kidd headed it home for his second goal of the night and a 4-0 lead.  There were multiple other chances but none were able to find the back of the net.  Bachand finished with 4 saves on the night.  The Spartans won the game 4-0 and improve to 16-2-1 on the season.  This breaks the single season record for wins in the history of boys soccer at Superior.  Congrats on a great accomplishment boys!

The JV team played a shortened game due to darkness.  Hayward prevailed by a score of 3-1.  Sophomore captain Everett Kliegle had the lone Superior goal on a penalty kick.  Freshman Liam Perrault had 8 saves in net.  The JV team drops to 8-11-1 on the season.  JV plays on Tuesday at 4:30pm at Ordean Middle School against the Duluth East "B" team.

Both Varsity and JV will be playing the final game of the regular season on Friday, October 16th against New Richmond.  JV at 5pm and varsity at 7pm.