New coach has to replace state’s top scorer
By Greg Seubert
There are plenty of new faces on the sidelines this season for the Waupaca boys’ soccer team.
Besides having to replace last year’s top scorer in the state and several other players from a team that made it to a sectional final, the Comets also have a new coach in Cory Nagel.
“There certainly are a lot of challenges for a first-year coach, but it helps to be a teacher at the high school and know everybody’s name and know a lot of the kids’ backgrounds,” said Nagel, who takes over for Mat Lawniczak.
“I was able to get to a lot of their club games this summer and watch, so I’m pretty familiar with the talent out here,” he said. “A lot of athleticism out here, a lot of willingness to play wherever. This is a group of kids that like each other and have good off-field chemistry. You can have the most talented team in the world, but if they’re not willing to play with each other, it really doesn’t matter. This team has those intangibles already in place.”
The Comets are coming off of the best season in program history. They finished 19-3-2, advanced to a WIAA Division 3 sectional final and shared the North Eastern Conference championship with Fox Valley Lutheran.
Waupaca also had the North Eastern’s top offensive player in Seth Boldt, now at St. Norbert College in De Pere. The four-year varsity starter led the state in scoring in 2016 with 134 points on 53 goals and 28 assists.
“I’m not sure you replace a player like that,” Nagel said. “The one thing that he and the rest of that class left is an imprint on this program of how to be successful. To have that in place and to have all of these guys understand how to practice, how to play, how to prepare, those are the things that are ultimately going to lead us to have the success we need to have as a program.”
Besides Boldt, the Comets are also replacing first-team all-conference players Luis Jorgensen (forward), Nate Schuler-Jones (goalkeeper) and Drake Hiddemen (defender); and honorable mention player midfielder Eugene Pliska.
“Two-thirds of our program this year is underclassmen,” Nagel said. “I think a lot of people’s perception is that we’re somehow going to be taking a step back here. We’ll see how the season plays out.
“I definitely view this more as a reload than a rebuild,” he added. “The talent out here is excellent, young, motivated and hungry. We may not have a lot of the familiar names that we’ve had in the past, but some of the names I think you’ll be getting to know pretty quick.”
Bailey Colden, last year’s junior varsity goalkeeper, will likely replace Schuler-Jones in goal.
“We have a couple of options,” Nagel said. “I think our best one that we’re looking at is Bailey Colden. Bailey has a lot of skills and we would certainly like him to take that job and run with it. He has the skills to be a first-team all-conference goalie. I played goalie and I have a goalie on the coaching staff as a volunteer assistant in Logan Borland. We know what we’re looking at when we see goaltenders and we think Bailey can be that guy.”
Returning all-conference players from last year include second-team defender Brett Hanke and honorable mention midfielder Forrest Ziebell and defender Zach Thuerman.
“Unfortunately, Forrest is hurt, but Zach is one of our captains this year, along with Brett,” Nagel said. “Jack Snider is another one of our captains. Those are guys that we’re going to be leaning on pretty heavily.
“We also have a returning senior in William Brandl-Koerwitz, who got to be starting halfway through the season,” he said. “Some of the other guys that were freshman last year – Keegan Turrubiates, Keenin Polebitski, Evan Gustke – these are all guys that got valuable minutes and they’re ready to step in and play a lot.”
Besides fielding a varsity team, the Comets will also have JV1 and JV2 squads.
“We have excellent numbers this year,” Nagel said. “We’re going to have three teams, which is something that some of the bigger schools in the Valley don’t even have. Anybody that is not on varsity this year is going to get a lot of playing time, which is only going to make us better in the future because everybody coming in is going to understand the system and have a lot of reps. We’ll be able to call on people and they’ll be able to step in and play.”
Waupaca will compete in the North Eastern with Clintonville, Denmark, FVL, Freedom, Little Chute, Luxemburg-Casco, Marinette and Wrightstown.
“It’s my understanding that Fox Valley Lutheran usually has a tough team every year, Luxemburg-Casco had a good team and Wrightstown is usually pretty strong,” Nagel said. “These things change so much year-to-year. We’re going to go out and play our schedule and not worry about who’s on it. Whether somebody’s having an up year or a down year, we have to approach the game the same way. We can’t worry about what the other team’s record is.”
The Comets will open the season Tuesday, Aug. 22, by hosting Medford at 5 p.m. and play their first game on the new Comet Field Thursday, Aug. 31, a 6:30 p.m. matchup with Wrightstown.
“The first thing I’m looking for is chemistry,” Nagel said. “A lot of these guys go and play club ball with different teams. We’re going to be starting a lot of guys who maybe weren’t starters on varsity last year due to the excellent talent that was out here. How those guys adjust from being a talented role player to being a starter is critical.
“The guys are excited and ready to go,” he said. “I’m not going to make any predictions on the season, but I feel very good. I never got to play on a team this talented.”
Nagel faced former coach Mark Polebitski’s Waupaca teams while playing for Pacelli in the early 2000s.
“I know from first-hand experience playing against Waupaca’s teams from the past that were very good,” he said.
He now has an opportunity to leave his mark on the program.
“I feel pretty good about where we’re at and where we’re going in the future,” he said. “We want to make Waupaca soccer not some program that jumps up every couple years and all of a sudden makes a run. We want to be at that level every year.”
Waupaca 2017 Boys’ Soccer Schedule
Varsity
Tuesday, Aug. 22 – vs. Medford, 5 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 26 – at Oshkosh North Invitational, Winnebago County Park, Oshkosh, 9:30 a.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 29 – at Nekoosa, 5 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 31 – vs. Wrightstown, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 7 – at Seymour, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 9 – at Wausau West Invitational, 9 a.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 12 – vs. Fox Valley Lutheran, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 14 – at Hortonville, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 19 – at Luxemburg-Casco, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 23 – vs. Middleton, New London, 9 a.m.
Monday, Sept. 25 – vs. Mosinee, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 26 – vs. Clintonville, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 28 – at Freedom, 4 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 30 – vs. Pacelli, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 3 – vs. Marinette, 4 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 5 – at Little Chute, 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 10 – at Denmark, 4 p.m.
JV1
Tuesday, Aug. 22 – vs. Medford, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 29 – at Nekoosa, 3 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 31 – vs. Wrightstown, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 7 – at Seymour, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 9 – at Wausau West Invitational, 9 a.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 12 – vs. Fox Valley Lutheran, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 16 – at New London Invitational, 9 a.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 19 – at Luxemburg-Casco, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 23 – vs. Amherst, Berlin, Wisconsin Rapids, 9 a.m.
Monday, Sept. 25 – vs. Mosinee, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 26 – vs. Clintonville, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 30 – Waupaca JV Invitational, 8 a.m.
Saturday, Oct. 14 – North Eastern Conference meet at Waupaca, 9 a.m.
JV2
Friday, Aug. 25 – vs. Wisconsin Rapids, 4:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 11 – vs. Wausau West, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 15 – at Wisconsin Rapids, 4:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 18 – vs. Stevens Point, 4:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 25 – vs. D.C. Everest, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 29 – at Wausau West, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 6 – vs. Wausau West, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 13 – at Wisconsin Rapids, 5 p.m.