The 34th season of WIAA boys soccer wrapped up with four teams celebrating state titles Saturday at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee – first-time winner Sturgeon Bay joined three programs that already had gold balls in their trophy cases.
Here's some news and notes from state matches and across the state as we head into the offseason:
- Casey Reich had a hat trick and fellow senior Alec Philippe tied a WIAA state tournament record with three assists as Milwaukee Marquette scored four goals in the opening half hour and beat Hartland Arrowhead 5-2 to win its second straight Division 1 state title. The Hilltoppers, who won their final 12 games of the season, extended their record with their 11th WIAA championship in the past 16 years – it was their 26th overall, as the program also won 15 titles in the defunct Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association.
- Marquette is unbeaten in its past 31 games against Wisconsin teams over the past two years, compiling a 29-0-2 record with a 173-22 goal differential in those matches.
- It was the sixth state title for Hilltoppers coach Steve Lawrence, second in state boys history behind the 20 won by his mentor at Marquette, Bob Spielmann.
- The Hilltoppers are the state's most successful soccer program – they have a 734-98-55 record in their 39-year history. Marquette has scored 3,030 goals and allowed just 541, an average game score of 3.42 to 0.61.
- Private schools have won 32 of the 49 boys state soccer titles awarded since WISAA dissolved in 2000 and its members started to join the WIAA. However, public schools claimed three of the four titles this year, the second time that's happened in the three years since the tournament was expanded to four divisions.
- Junior Nicholas Anguil-Andriacchi scored on a header off a free kick by sophomore Jackson Dryden in the 35th minute as Whitefish Bay (23-2-1) avenged one of its losses by blanking Cedarburg 1-0 in the Division 2 final for its fifth state title – matching Racine Prairie School for the second-most championships in WIAA history behind Marquette. The Blue Dukes' other titles were in 1982, '83, '94 and '95.
- Whitefish Bay is the fifth team to post two shutouts at state in winning Division 2 titles, and the second in a row. The Blue Dukes accomplished the feat in 1995, followed by Sauk Prairie in 1996, Mount Horeb in 2011 and Brookfield East last fall.
- Senior goalkeeper Adin Chiappa recorded the clean sheet in the state final and earned the win in the semifinals for Bay – his father, Chris, was an all-state keeper for the Blue Dukes' teams that won the first two WIAA state titles in 1982 and '83.
- Whitefish Bay outscored its six postseason opponents by a 35-1 margin, with Pewaukee scoring the lone goal off a corner kick in a 3-1 loss in the sectional finals.
- The state title gave Blue Dukes coach Jeff Worzella (Wauwatosa East) a rather unique double: He also led Milwaukee DSHA to the Division 1 state championship in girls basketball last March.
- Cedarburg, which beat Whitefish Bay 3-0 in a North Shore Conference opener back on Sept. 1, was denied in the state final for the third consecutive season. The only other team to finish second three straight years is Waukesha Catholic Memorial, which also did so in Division 2 from 2007 to '09. The Bulldogs have been state runners-up six times (1992, '94, '95, 2013, '14 and '15) – only Brookfield East has collected more silver trophies at state, with seven.
- Marquette and Whitefish Bay each moved up one spot in this week's USA Today/National Soccer Coaches Association of America Super 25, with the Hilltoppers sixth in the nation and the Blue Dukes 14th. Madison West (18-3-3), which lost to Marquette 3-2 in the Division 1 state semifinals, was among other teams receiving votes. The Hilltoppers and Whitefish Bay are first and second, respectively, in the Region VI rankings, which also include Madison West at No. 5, Cedarburg (19-1-4) at No. 7 and Arrowhead (21-2-3) at No. 8.
- In the Top Drawer Soccer Fab 50, Marquette jumped six spots to No. 18 and remained fourth in the Great Lakes Region. Whitefish Bay moved up three places to 10th in the website's regional rankings and Cedarburg fell four spots to No. 11.
- Junior Ben Stephens finished off a rebound in the 79th minute as Mount Horeb finally broke through and beat Rice Lake 1-0 in the Division 3 championship game. It was the second state title for the Vikings (16-6-4), who were playing in their fourth state final in the past five years.
- Mount Horeb was the only one of the four state champions not ranked in the season's final Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association polls – Marquette and Whitefish Bay were first in their respective divisions, while Sturgeon Bay was ranked second in Division 4.
- Senior Robbie Hohlfelder and defender Alessandro Nora scored as Sturgeon Bay blanked Milwaukee University School 2-0 in the Division 4 final, becoming the 37th team to claim a boys state championship.
- Phillips senior midfielder Shawn Brown led the state with 67 goals this fall, setting what is believed to be a state record for goals in a season. The previous mark was 60 by Winnebago Lutheran's Aaron Calkins in 2011, according to the WSCA record book (pdf). Whitnall senior Joe Schauer, who finished with 61 goals, also surpassed the previous record.
- Brown also set the state record for points in a season with 145, as he had 11 assists to go along with his 67 goals. New London junior Joey Messina (132) and Schauer and Delavan-Darien junior Tigrio Huerta (128 apiece) also surpassed the previous mark of 127, set last season by Delavan-Darien's Juan J. Rocha.
- In his four-year varsity career, Brown finished with 117 goals, 37 assists and 271 points for the Loggers – he ranks fourth in state history in career points and fifth in career goals.
- Huerta has career totals of 84 goals, 58 assists and 226 points heading into his senior season. He set the single-season state record with 32 assists in 2014 and is just nine assists behind the career mark of 67 held jointly by Ashland's Zach Whiting (2011 to '14) and Somerset's Jon Bucklew (2010 to '13).
- Here's a look at the final state leaders in goals and assists this season, as reported to the Wisconsin Sports Network. See more on the WSN boys soccer statistics page