St. Paul Academy rallied for three goals in the second half to beat fourth-seeded Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa 3-2 in the Class 1A boys soccer state tournament final Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
St. Paul Academy rallies past Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa for boys Class 1A soccer title
St. Paul Academy scored all three of its goals in the second half after trailing 1-0 at the break.
By Joe Gunther, Star Tribune
November 4, 2023 at 12:38AM
Trailing by a goal at halftime, the defending champion Spartans made changes in their formation to take out a defensive player and add an attacker. The strategy worked as the Spartans (14-4-3) controlled most of the play in the second half.
"Being down a goal against a team that we thought of ourselves as the favorite, that could have been potentially a tough situation," Spartans coach Max Lipset said. "These guys were able to dig down somewhere to find the tools and the words they needed to take their teammates to that next level. That was all the difference."
The Spartans repeated as state champions for the second time. They also did it in 1986-87.
The Spartans broke through at the 9:02 mark of the second half. Liam Sullivan scored when a rebound of his in-close shot caromed into the net off his body. The play began with a pass from Awaale Osman.
The Spartans took the lead for good with 16:16 left, when Orion Kim beat Lucas Sems on a penalty kick.
"I was pretty nervous," Kim said. "From the moment Ezra [Straub] drew the foul and I knew I was taking it, I just looked around the stadium and took a couple deep breaths."
Osman extended the lead to 3-1 with 7:22 left. He fired a free kick from 25 yards out off the goal post just out of the reach of Sems and into the net. That set up the Spartans to turn to defense.
"I was just trying to make sure we kept it tight defensively," senior goalkeeper Cooper Olson said. "I think we played so good defensively the second half."
The Wildcats (15-3-2) scored first 19:33 into the game when Seth Konik fed a pass to the front of the net for Jacob Carter, who redirected it into an open net.
The Wildcats got to within a goal with 13 seconds left, when Anders Hellyer slid a shot from outside the box under Olson.
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Joe Gunther, Star Tribune
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
