Benilde-St. Margaret's senior midfielder Sienna Carver admitted her soccer team's undefeated record can be a bit of a burden in the state tournament.
Benilde-St. Margaret's takes girls soccer state quarterfinal win over Mankato East
Benilde-St. Margaret's heads undefeated into the Class 2A semifinals next week at U.S. Bank Stadium.
October 26, 2023 at 12:22AM
"It's hard," Carver said. "Sometimes we have to take a step back from it and realize that now we're in the state tournament and we're playing the best teams in the state. We have to stay confident, but we can't get too cocky."
The Red Knights remained undefeated with a 3-0 victory in their quarterfinal game with Mankato East on Wednesday at Farmington High School. The Red Knights (17-0-3) are the No. 2 seed in Class 2A. They advance to the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Carver's goal less than five minutes into the game kept the Red Knights in the desired mindset.
"That really helped us lock in and play our game," said Carver, who scored her seventh goal this season. "We weren't under pressure; we didn't need to try and push a bunch of players to score."
More goals followed. Senior midfielder Lauren Hillins doubled the advantage with a second-half goal. Junior midfielder Hannah Buller bumped the lead to 3-0.
Junior goalkeeper Ashley Fischer kept Mankato East (14-5) in the game by turning aside scores of great Red Knights chances.
"This game could have been 3-0 or 4-0 in the first half easily," Cougars coach Lizzy Vetter said. "She did an incredible job. For a first-year varsity keeper she was strong and always focused. She played a great game tonight."
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
