St. Paul Academy cruised past St. Charles/Lewiston-Altura 3-0 on Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium, winning the Class 1A girls soccer championship.
"Before the game we preached coming out very strong, very aggressive and very physical," Spartans senior Aurelia Meza said. "They're an aggressive team. So, we preached coming out strong and hard."
The three Spartans goals came in similar fashion: They were shots from distance perfectly placed on the edges of the goal frame.
The Spartans (12-6-4) scored with 8:54 left in the first half. Clare Ryan Bradley turned and beat Saints goalkeeper Makadyn Gust from 25 yards with a shot just inside the far goal post.
Sawyer Bollinger Danielson scored two goals 5:33 apart in the second half with nearly identical shots from outside the box that cleanly beat Gust just under the crossbar.
"Coming out of half, Coach just said, 'It's not over. Keep going, keep shooting.' Those goals were pretty important," Danielson said.
It wasn't until the midway point of the second half that the Saints (18-2-2) generated some offense. They had a couple of chances to make it 1-1 but didn't score.
"[They] are a good team," Saints coach Taige Puetz said. "It seems like every year they know how to show up in the playoffs. Complements to them. They got us tonight."
