St. Paul Academy’s hopes of a three-peat remain on course, but the Spartans took a perilous path to keep it going.
The top-seeded Spartans and No. 5 Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa played 100 minutes of scoreless soccer in the first semifinal of the Minnesota State High School League’s Boys Soccer State Tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at U.S. Bank Stadium. When open play couldn’t decide a winner, a game-deciding shootout was needed.
That was a deadlock, too, after three rounds of shooters all made their shots. But then drama unfolded when St. Paul Academy made one of its final two while Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa missed both of theirs to give the Spartans a 4-3 victory in the game-deciding procedure. Senior Arlo Zips scored the clinching goal for the Spartans.
St. Paul Academy is attempting to become the first boys soccer program to win three consecutive championships since Edina accomplished the feat with three Class AA crowns from 1999-2001. The Spartans are a six-time state champion and a five-time runner-up. St. Paul Academy has surrendered two goals in five postseason games.
In the final game of the semifinal round, a floodgate of goals opened.
Rochester Lourdes, the No. 3 seed in the Class A field, scored four goals in an 11-minute blitz in the first half to build what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. But No. 2 St. Cloud Cathedral, while momentarily dazed by surrendering that output, responded with three of their own to make things uncomfortable for Rochester Lourdes.
But the offensive fireworks stopped there and that allowed Rochester Lourdes to hang on for a 4-3 victory and a chance to win a Class A crown for the first time in a dozen years.
Senior forward Samuel Theobald scored in the 8th minute to get the Eagles (17-3-1) going and the avalanche didn’t stop until senior forward Aiden Kane converted a penalty kick in the 19th minute to build a stunning four-goal lead. Sandwiched in there were two goals from sophomore midfielder Blake Moynagh.
St. Cloud Cathedral, which suffered its first loss of the season, began the slow climb on a goal from junior forward Griffin Sturm in the 32nd minute. The momentum carried into the second half when senior Matthew Primus scored in the 55th minute and junior forward Jacob Oliver added another on a backward bicycle kick five minutes later.
Rochester Lourdes, which also won Class A championships in 1998 and 1999, respectively, didn’t break in the final 20 minutes.
St. Cloud Cathedral was seeking its first state championship game appearance in 13 tournament trips.
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