With the postseason rapidly approaching, stealing a win from a team within your sectional can have major ramifications once the WIAA playoffs begin.

The Waunakee boys’ soccer team was able to secure one such win this past week when they hosted the Spartans of Madison Memorial on Friday.

Waunakee 5,

Madison Memorial 3

Friday’s contest came after the Warriors were forced to either postpone or cancel both of their games earlier in the week – against DeForest on Tuesday and against Neenah on Thursday – due to weather and poor field conditions. This meant the game against the Spartans was Waunakee’s lone competition of the week.

The Warriors got off to a fast start, netting the game’s first goal in just the sixth minute. Cole Kettner earned the assist as Jacob Mouille beat Memorial’s keeper to put Waunakee up 1-0.

The Spartans’ response came quickly; less than four minutes later, they too found the back of the net. After a Cole Kettner goal in the game’s 20th minute, however, the Warriors had regained control. A handful of opportunities from Sam Acker were turned away by Memorial; on the other end, Waunakee’s Noah Jakel stymied several Spartan chances to maintain Waunakee’s lead.

“We controlled the first part of the game,” said Waunakee’s Head Coach Dave Kettner. “[It] looked like they were on the way to the win when things fell apart midway through the second half.”

Over the course of three minutes, Memorial scored twice to steal the lead from the Warriors. Trailing 3-2, Waunakee just needed to relax and play their game, according to their coach.

“The guys rallied at the end once they settled down and started playing our style of soccer,” added Dave Kettner

With less than seven minutes to go, the Warriors finally broke through, tying the game back up at three goals apiece on a Trent Jarvi goal with an assist from Cole Kettner.

In the 88th minute, Waunakee recaptured the lead; Mouille found the back of the net for the second time, once again with Cole Kettner on the assist. Barely a minute later, Mouille put the final nail in the coffin, completing the hat trick on an assist from Mason Lee to put Waunakee up 5-3.

With less than a minute to go, the Warriors held on to get the win.

Waunakee (9-5-1, 2-1-0 Badger North) returned to action Tuesday when they played at Portage/Poynette, the results of which were not available for this week’s edition. The Warriors will host Oak Creek on Thursday before heading to Sauk Prairie on Tuesday for a Badger North contest. Start time for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m.