Photo provided by Devin Donovan
The WIAA boys soccer single-season goals scored record was recently broken by star Ripon midfielder in their game against Mauston. Donovan, a senior, scored 77 goals which tops the previous record of 74 set by Jacek Nickowski of Baldwin-Woodville back in 2018.
Donovan said he didn’t know about the record until recently, where many of his teammates and classmates let him know that he was inching closer to the record books. After finding out, he made an effort to push toward that record to try to break it.
In that match against Mauston, Donovan scored 4 goals with a pair of assists. When asked about the goal that broke the record, Donovan said that “it was pretty sloppy. It was off a corner. Then a rebounded shot and it just landed at my feet.”
Donovan says that a lot of his goals are similar to the record-breaking one in Mauston, but there are still a lot that he’s proud of. When asked which goal he was most proud of scoring, he mentioned his game winner in a 3-2 win over Luxemburg-Casco. Devin added that “ I had all 3 goals [that game], but was a pretty hard battle. So I’d say that one.”
Devin scored an astounding 15 hat-tricks across the course of this season. Any type of elite talent will inevitably stand out in the lower levels of high school soccer, particularly in D4 where the depth of player quality is much thinner than that of larger schools. Devin, however, has been extremely clinical throughout the fall which has allowed him to stand out even more amongst his peers.
If you think back to the top scorers in recent memory, they all have someone that is consistently able to feed them the ball. To point out a specific example, last year, the lethal duo of Chris Urbina and Ony Zaragoza terrorized northwest Wisconsin. Urbina found the net more than 60 times largely due to Zaragoza’s ability to create opportunities and find Urbina for scoring chances.
For Donovan, that player was forward Zach Kelm, who was the state’s leader in assists this year. Donovan credits Kelm for improving tremendously in the offseason to help bring much of Ripon’s success this fall. Another facet of their success is how long they’ve been playing together for. Donovan said that he and Kelm had played together as far back as first grade, and he added about how crucial that chemistry had been toward their dominance.
When looking back on how he got here, Devin views his father as his greatest mentor throughout his athletic journey. Of course, parents always needed to help support their kid through the highs and lows of sports, but Devin’s dad goes a step beyond. He’s been Devin’s biggest supporter, helping him navigate changing clubs after Devin decided he was ready to leave his local club in Fond Du Lac to FC Wisconsin, a much larger club.
Another aspect of Devin’s father’s presence was he built his work ethic. Devin’s dad was an athlete too when he was younger, meaning his dad knew what it took to become a great athlete. That’s exactly what his dad instilled in him from a young age. Devin’s dad was always pushing him to get better everyday, and he built a mentality within Devin which has helped him become one of the hardest working athletes around.
Devin says that if he could give any help to younger players looking up to him, he would emphasize how important hard work really is. He says to find a group of friends that you enjoy playing with to help build up your work ethic and grow as a player and person.
Ripon were knocked out of the WIAA playoffs in the regional final after a 4-1 loss to Providence Academy, ending the historic season that Devin put together.
Devin Donovan’s soccer career isn’t over, however. He says he plans on continuing playing competitively in college, but has yet to announce where yet.
Our social media graphic after he broke the record
