Wisconsin Soccer Central

Ken Burghy's legendary career as the Middleton prep boys soccer coach ended at the hands of a longtime rival.

Fourth-seeded Madison Memorial outlasted the host and top-seeded Cardinals 4-3 on penalty kicks following the teams' 1-1 draw in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal on Thursday night at Breitenbach Stadium.

Burghy, who announced in August that he would retire after the season, finished with a 515-139-49 record in 29 years. His victory total ranks second in Wisconsin high school boys soccer history, behind only former Milwaukee Marquette coach Bob Spielmann (532-73-40).

Middleton (19-3-3), ranked second in the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association Division 1 state poll for most of the season, beat Memorial 3-0 on Oct. 2 to complete a perfect Big Eight Conference season.

That was the program's 18th conference championship during Burghy's tenure, which also included the 2004 WIAA state title, a state runner-up finish in 2000 and 10 other state tournament appearances. 

Burghy also compiled a 224-118-40 record in 21 seasons during two stints as the school's girls coach, leading the Cardinals to the state championship in 2006 and two other state berths.

Memorial (13-6-3) will face No. 3 seed Oregon (14-1-5) in a sectional final at 3 p.m. Saturday in Waunakee – the teams played to a 1-1 draw on Sept. 27. The Panthers got past second-seeded and fifth-ranked Madison West 4-3 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw Thursday, extending their unbeaten streak to 17 matches (13-0-4).

• Through the sectional semifinals, higher-seeded teams have advanced in 86 percent of this year's WIAA playoff matches (197 of 228). Teams with better seeds have an impressive 192-22-14 record – including 92-10-8 in Division 1, 50-7-2 in Division 2 and 50-5-4 in Division 3. The lowest-seeded teams to advance to sectional finals were No. 4: Madison Memorial and Whitefish Bay in Division 1 and Winnebago Lutheran in Division 3. Interestingly, lower-seeded sides have advanced in nine of the 14 matches that have gone to penalty kicks.
• Milwaukee Marquette, which has outscored three postseason foes 30-0, remained 10th in the Elite Soccer Report Top 50 and 15th in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings this week. The Hilltoppers also continued to hold down the No. 2 spot in the NSCAA Region VI poll, with Middleton sixth, Green Bay Preble 10th, Muskego 12th and Madison West 14th.