Esko Going Back to State

Esko Back to State

Dwight Cadwell

The first time the Esko girls’ soccer team and Duluth Marshall met back in September it was Esko and the Hilltoppers playing to a 1-1 tie, but Tuesday Esko was determined not to have that result as they did the first time. This time Esko came out fast as they would score early on often in the 4-0 victory.
The last time Esko and Marshall met, Esko outshot Marshall by a 14 to 1 margin, and this time Esko was determined not to let that happen again as Esko scored as Britta Koski scored on a penalty kick just one minute and 51 seconds into the match.
The goal by Koski set the mood and momentum for Esko as Koski would score again as a brilliant pass from Gwendolyn Lilly allowed Koski to split two defenders and beat goalkeeper Seva Gustafson.
“We are quicker than most teams so we can use that to our advantage and when we play our system, we are tough to beat” coach Sharron Lahti said. All season long we try to stay and play our style and we have been playing some of our best done the stretch of the regular season,”
Esko wasn’t satisfied with their 2-0 lead as Esko had an relentless attack applying pressure non stop which led Kaitlyn McConnell to the third goal for Esko. Esko intercepted a pass from Marshall which led to a lead pass to McConnell and the lead grew to three just fourteen minutes into the match.
Esko made it 4-0 with just a little over two minutes remaining in the first half when again Esko would beat the Marshall defenders and Jordyn Randa beat Gustafson, and that’s how the first half would end.
The second half saw Esko playing back more of the defensive side preventing Marshall from getting hardly any scoring chances. When the Hilltoppers did get a scoring chance Esko Goalkeeper Hannah Roemer made the stop.
With neither team scoring in the second half Esko was able to slow the tempo and dictate the pace of play as time winded down. With the match’s first two goals from Koski, she increased her team leading goals scored to 18 on the season, while McConnell scored her thirteenth and Randa her sixth of the season.
“Esko’s fast start kind of caught us off guard,” Co-Head Coach Tim Thorson stated, “when they scored their second goal so quickly it kind of took the wind out of us, and we could never battle back.” “They did a great job shutting down Nina (Thorson) and bottling up the passing lanes, they did a great job and deserved the win tonight.”
With the victory Esko improves to 13-2-3 on the season and they will wait till Saturday for their opponent next week at the Girls State Soccer Tournament. The first-round quarterfinals are scheduled to be on Tuesday the 24th, Wednesday the 25th. or Thursday the 26th. The seeding meeting is Saturday morning with all the Class A state teams.