2024 Soccer State Tournament: Class A Girls Semifinals
Posted: Tuesday, October 29, 2024 - 9:07 PM
Two schools that met for the third-place trophy a year ago are now going to play for a much bigger prize.
Top-seeded Southwest Christian and No. 2 Providence Academy earned berths in the Class A championship game following victories in the Minnesota State High School League’s Soccer State Tournament semifinals on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
No. 5-seeded Esko (14-4-1) held Southwest Christian (19-0-1) at bay for the majority of the match before senior forward Maya Johnson took over and scored two second-half goals to send the Stars to a 2-1 victory and into the championship game for the first time in school history. She scored two brilliant individual efforts, the first with 16 minutes remaining in regulation time and the other 10 minutes later. Both goals came after tireless individual efforts that created an open net to shoot.
Her second goal, an insurance marker at the time, proved pivotal as Esko senior defender Reese Kuklinski scored a late goal after knocking in a deflection.
The last time Southwest Christian and Providence Academy met was a 5-0 victory by the Lions in last season’s state tournament. Both teams had suffered upset losses in the semifinals. But not this time.
Providence Academy (13-6-0) weathered surges from St. Charles (17-3-1) before pulling away and finding its groove offensively. To no one’s surprise, it was junior forward Maddyn Greenway at the center of the goal-scoring production. She scored a goal in the first half and added two more in the second half to not only give her 157 career goals but also send Providence Academy to a soccer championship game for the first time in its program’s history.
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