WAUNAKEE -- The 19-hour stretch from Friday night to Saturday afternoon was a long one for the Waunakee prep girls soccer team.

Two hundred and sixty minutes long, to be exact.

"My feet hurt," junior midfielder Shyla Gilbertson said after the Warriors played two regulation matches and one double-overtime match during that timeframe.

Added senior defender Sarah Gugel, who recently committed to UW-Green Bay: "My calves are so tight."

After traveling to Stevens Point for a non-conference game Friday night -- a 9-0 Waunakee win -- the Warriors returned home to host the inaugural Badger Conference Challenge Saturday.

The Warriors blanked Verona 4-0 in the morning match and battled to a 1-1 tie with McFarland in the afternoon to remain unbeaten (16-0-1).

"We got that second wind (in the McFarland game) and that pride came back," said Waunakee coach Jesus Torres, whose team had four players leave Saturday's games because of injury. "But we were just tired and we ran out of gas."

The injury bug started for Northern Badger champion Waunakee -- ranked second in the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association Division 1 state poll -- on the final goal against Verona (9-4-1).

After Warriors senior forward Melanie Meier beat Wildcats junior goalkeeper Tory Nestler on a shot to the right corner, the two collided.

Meier, a Northern Iowa recruit, suffered what Torres called a "bad sprain" of her right ankle.

The McFarland match was just as physical and three more Waunakee starters departed, but the Warriors took the lead on sophomore midfielder Kara Dahmen's blast from the top of the box at the 56-minute, 57-second mark.

The Spartans (7-2-3), ranked fifth in Division 2 and leading the Southern Badger, had numerous opportunities late in regulation, but couldn't capitalize until the 77th minute.

Gugel was called for a handball in the box, and McFarland sophomore forward Sara Stern buried the ensuing penalty kick into the upper right corner to tie it.

The Southern Division won the challenge -- which follows the same format as its basketball counterpart and replaced the Badger Conference tournament -- 10-2, with two games ending in ties.

McFarland coach Domenick Genova viewed the new event as an opportunity to prepare for the WIAA playoffs, which start May 22.

"We just wanted to play two good teams and play two good games and see how we could do against them," said Genova, whose team beat Sauk Prairie 2-0 in its first game. "We got out of it what we wanted."