Wayzata grabbed a lead only 2 minutes, 12 seconds into Friday morning's Class 3A boys soccer state title game. The early lead let Wayzata turn to its "bread and butter."
"We can really lock in on defense when we're up a goal," said Wayzata senior Miles Redmond. "Obviously we want to bang in a few more goals. But that's our bread and butter is defending. So it's easy to focus on that."
Top seed Wayzata turned it into a two-goal lead that held up for a 2-0 victory over No. 2 seed Maple Grove at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Trojans are back-to-back state champions.
Wayzata's goals came in similar fashion from the same personnel. Junior forward Aiden Judickas scored on a header after a corner kick from senior midfielder Charlie Piller to get the scoring started. Then Judickas was right in front again to score off a corner kick from Piller about halfway through the first half.
They practice the corner kicks daily, Piller said.
"We work on hitting the back post," Piller said. "It's usually Jackson Widman, but this time it was Aiden."
This marks Wayzata's fifth state title and third in the past six state tournaments going back to 2017. Wayzata is the first boys soccer back-to-back state champion since Anoka in 2014-15.
