The Verona boys lacrosse team wasted no time in relishing the opportunity it had to play in this year’s state championship game against Waunakee.
Just three days after taking out the top team in the state, Kettle Moraine, in the semifinal round of the playoffs, the Wildcats used a frenetic sense of urgency and a stifling defense to overwhelm Waunakee en route to a 9-4 victory. The win gave the Wildcats their fifth championship in program history out of eight appearances in the final game, and their first title since 2014.
“This is a team that expects to be here on a regular basis,” Verona coach Nathan Lutterman said. “We talked about very early wanting to ride a wave of emotion coming out, and we wanted to keep our positive energy up and not succumb to the negative energy.”
There wasn’t much for Verona (13-6) to be negative about Saturday night at Carroll University’s Schneider Stadium in Waukesha. The Wildcats jumped out to a 6-1 lead over Waunakee (19-3) by the 1 minute, 44 second mark in the first quarter. Verona played a press defense that forced countless turnovers by the Warriors, and they won most of the faceoffs, keeping Waunakee on its heels most of the first quarter.
“We really tried to get on their hands and pressure the ball out a lot,” Verona senior defender Declan Makuch said. “We were able to keep their points down and not let them score, and our offense helped us put some goals up.”
Senior attacker Ian Edwards put Verona on the board early on, scoring at 10:07 in the first quart. He assisted on another goal at 9:26 when he found sophomore middie Xavier Howard with a dish.
After Waunakee got on the board, Verona started a 4-0 run led by two goals from sophomore middie Haakon Anderson to take a 6-1 lead. The Warriors – who defeated Verona twice during the regular season – wouldn’t get within four goals the rest of the game.
Lutterman credits Verona assistant coach Sam Prete, the team’s defensive coordinator. The Badgerland Conference’s assistant coach of the year developed the game plan that saw the Wildcats hold their final four opponents to six goals or less.
“We saw today exactly the job he did when he came up with what he wanted to do with that Waunakee offense,” Lutterman said.
Along with the stellar defense, Edwards credits a moment of clarity for him and his teammates after the loss to Sauk Prairie in the Badgerland Conference tournament for the Verona championship run. He said the Wildcats had fallen victim to “heroball,” where every player tried to take things into their own hands when things aren’t going right for Verona. After the conference tournament, the Wildcats began playing as a team instead.
“Everyone bought into that, and it showed,” Edwards said. “After everyone became so selfless, it has been an amazing thing to be a part of.”
Despite the loss, Waunakee can celebrate a successful year as well as a solid foundation for the future of the program.
“The group had an exceptional season, and we played at a high level in almost every game,” Waunakee coach Michael Reiter said. “We played, in my opinion, as good as we’ve ever played.”
