Box Score
Yellowjackets 2, UW-Whitewater 1
Playing games in the month of November isn't something of familiarity to the Yellowjacket men's soccer team. Reasons vary from not having a conference tournament in the past to not having enough teams to earn an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The Yellowjackets, playing in the first ever men's soccer WIAC tournament, played like they had a lot at stake as they edged out UW-Whitewater 2-1 in the semi-finals.
The Warhwaks outshot the Yellowjackets 20-14 in the contest but at the end of the day, it was the Yellowjackets who shined when they needed to. Brian Grand (North Branch, Minn./North Branch) helped shake off the jitters for the Yellowjackets when he gave the Yellowjackets a 1-0 lead at 32:21. Ben Kasper (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) was awarded the assist on the play. Â
It wouldn't take the Yellowjackets long to add to the lead when Trevor Laroche-Theune (LaPointe, Wis./Bayfield ) had possession of the ball and found a wide open Dan Baga (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) in front of the net. Baga finished the play with a solid header that was too much for Warhawk goalkeeper Josh Rohde to handle at 41:19 to extend the Yellowjacket lead to 2-0. Â
The Warhawks were only able to answer with one goal in the 2nd half en route to the Yellowjackets' 2-1 victory. Sam Novak cut the Yellowjacket lead in half to 2-1 at 55:00 on a shot in front of the net that caught Yellowjacket goalkeeper Matt Elder (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) off guard. Â
Elder finished with seven saves for the Yellowjackets while Sam Novak stopped two shots for UW-Whitewater.
The Yellowjackets (11-6-3, 2-1-1 WIAC) will play for the WIAC championship on Friday, Nov. 8th at UW-Oshkosh. Â Game time is set for 6:00 p.m.
