Soccer State Tournament, 2022: Semifinals Day 2 Recap

Class AAA

In a battle of upstarts, Edina will move on to the Class AAA girls soccer state championship game following a 1-0 victory over Mounds View on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. Freshman midfielder Lous Ruffien scored with just more than nine minutes remaining in regulation time to lift the No. 5-seeded Hornets (16-4-1) into the big-school championship game where it will play the winner between No. 2 Rosemount and No. 3 Stillwater.

Ruffien broke the scoreless deadlock on a play in the goalie box. She gained possession by pulling the ball from a defender and then firing a quick-strike shot from close range.

To earn a spot in the semifinal, Edina defeated No. 4 Centennial in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, unseeded Mounds View (14-5-1) staged the upset of the quarterfinals  by defeating top-seeded and previously undefeated Wayzata.

It is Edina’s first appearance in a soccer championship game since 2007 when it lost to Lakeville South. The Hornets also had a runner-up finish in 2000. In 1986, Edina won the single-class state championship, and in 1980, Edina West was the runner-up to Bloomington Jefferson in the first-ever girls soccer championship game.

In the 2021 state tournament, Rosemount, like Edina, was not able to advance out of the semifinals. The Irish were seeded No. 3 and lost to No. 2 Centennial for the right to play for a state title. On the back of t-shirts worn by Rosemount participants, it says, “Unfinished Business,” a motivator to progress farther in 2022.

That is playing out for the Irish.

Rosemount, the No. 2 seed in the big-school field, recorded a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Stillwater during the semifinals to not only dethrone the reigning Class AAA champion, but also earn a spot opposite Edina in Friday’s championship game.

Senior forward Shay Payne scored the game’s only goal with 24:29 remaining in regulation time on a play engineered by teammate Taylor Heimerl, a senior midfielder. Heimerl, with possession on the far side, sent a long volley toward the Stillwater goal. The ball bounced off a Stillwater defender to Payne, who was about 20 yards out. Payne recovered the ricochet and fired a shot between the two defenders and into the far left side of the goal.

It is Rosemount’s first appearance in a championship game since finishing as a runner-up to Centennial in 2016.

Class AA

Top-seeded Mahtomedi finds itself in a customary place: A girls soccer championship game. After all, the Zephyrs (18-2-0) are a four-time champion since 2017 and a state-best 10 times overall.

Mahtomedi looks to extend that streak following a 2-0 victory over No. 4 Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the first Class AA semifinal on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sophomore midfielder Aynseal Ulschmid scored in the first half and senior midfielder Anabel Hillstrom added another early in the second half. Mahtomedi’s stingy defense, which allowed the Red Knights (14-5-2) just one shot throughout, protected the lead.

The Zephyrs opened the scoring with 2:43 remaining in the first half off a corner kick. Senior midfielder Katelyn Beulke had an initial shot off a header, but the ball couldn’t be corralled by Benilde-St. Margaret’s senior goalkeeper Clara Luger. Ulschmid made contact with the ball and she was credited with the goal. Hillstrom added to the lead six minutes into the second half when she tapped a rebound under Luger.

In the second semifinal, No. 2 Holy Angels scored in the first half and defense took over from there in a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Mankato East. Senior Kathryn Van Sloun scored in the 22^nd minute on a low shot from 10 yards. Junior Makayla Clow picked up the assist on the play.

Holy Angels enters the Class AA championship game on a 12-game winning streak and with hopes of adding another championship to the program’s rich history. In four previous championship game appearances, the Stars (19-2-0) won a Class A title in 2003 and was the runner-up on three other occasions.

Class A

St. Anthony Village, making its second consecutive appearance in the state tournament, reached a new program milestone by earning a spot in the Class A championship game. The No. 4-seeded Huskies did so in an impressive manner by defeating top seeded Providence Academy 4-2 in the semifinals that featured five penalty kicks. St. Anthony Village was the recipient of three of them and the Huskies gladly turned them into goals en route to its eighth consecutive victory.

Junior midfielder Meghan Przybilla had two of the penalty kick goals and senior midfielder Eileen Cardona had the other.

St. Anthony Village built a 2-0 lead in the first half, but in a span of 33 seconds, Providence Academy (17-4-0) tied the score on two goals by freshman forward Maddyn Greenway. She drew the Lions to within 2-1 when she made a free kick from 25 yards, a shot that sailed into the left side. It was her 57^th goal of the season. No. 58 came a moment later when she made a penalty kick.

Cardona snapped the deadlock on a penalty kick with 1:09 left in the first half to give the Huskies a 3-2 edge.

Greenway had a chance to tie the score, again by a penalty kick, but her shot caromed off the right post. Four minutes later, Greenway was injured on a play in the right side of the penalty area and had to be helped off the field. She did not return to the game.

The Huskies pushed the lead to 4-2 when Pryzbilla made a penalty kick. That goal was needed because the Lions pulled to within 4-3 on a one-timer by freshman forward Elizabeth Hughes with 1:46 remaining in regulation.

St. Paul Academy, the No. 3 seed in the small-school field, completed the Class A championship pairing with a 3-2 victory over No. 2 Breck in the second semifinal and final game of six on the day. After 100 minutes of regulation time and overtime couldn’t break a 2-all tie, a shootout was needed to determine the second entrant in the championship game. St. Paul Academy won the tiebreaking procedure 3-1 to earn a spot in a championship game for the first time since 2004.

Sophomore Sawyer Bollinger-Danielson, freshman Lucia Gonzalez and junior Aurelia Meza were successful on their shootout opportunities for the Spartans (11-5-3). It was the second victory of the season over the Mustangs (11-7-1) for the Spartans. They split two games during the IMAC regular season.

Three goals were scored in a dizzying exchange that created a 2-all tie with 24:45 remaining in regulation time.

SPA started the spree on a successful penalty kick by senior Andrea Gist with 26:30 left in regulation time that create the first tie at one goal apiece. But 34 seconds later, Breck climbed on top again with a made penalty kick of its own by sophomore forward JoJo Weissman. Moments later, the scoring frenzy continued when SPA sophomore Sawyer Bolllinger-Danielson lofted a long-range shot from the far side that just sailed under the crossbar with 24:45 left.

Three minutes later, it appeared that Breck had regained the lead, but the goal was disallowed.