Girls Soccer Quarterfinals Provide Thrilling Overtime Action

Wes Vork-NSO

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Oct 13, 2012

Wes Vork-NSO

Quarterfinals of the 2012 Section 7A girls soccer playoffs went into the books on Saturday with all of the top seeds advancing, although several high seeds were pushed to the limit in games that went into overtime and double overtime.

Top seeded Princeton managed a fairly uneventful 3-0 win over Duluth Marshall but that is where mundane ended. The #3 seeded Esko-Carlton Eskomos needed two second half goals to pull out a 2-1 win over North Branch after falling behind 1-0 at halftime.

Typically a game featuring a #4 vs. #5 seed is a fairly even match-up and the Cloquet vs. Duluth Denfeld game proved to be no exception. The Lumberjacks got two goals from speedy freshman Mikayla Baker, including the game winner four minutes into overtime to secure the 2-1 win and a ticket to the semi-finals.

The Jacks struck first with a goal from Baker just 7 minutes into the game to give Cloquet a 1-0 lead going into the break. Denfeld matched the quick strike in the second half with an unassisted tally by Kylie Schaub which came less than five minutes into the second half.

Cloquet did have some chances to go up near the end of regulation, the first of which when Baker got behind the Hunters defense, but just missed with the shot. Continued pressure by the Lumberjacks led to a great opportunity and a ball that hit the crossbar with 1:20 left in the half. The 1-1 score held throughout the half and created the need for a sudden death overtime.

“She’s fast,” Cloquet Head Coach Dustin Randall said of Baker. “She hasn’t played up with this older group of girls but we like her speed. She can cause problems for teams. In addition to her speed, she’s progressed well in her overall game to where she’s on the field when it counts, and for a freshman that doesn’t happen too often.”

The speed Randall mentioned came into play at the 83:53 mark when Baker was able to get loose once again and got a good shot on net. The initial shot was stopped by the Hunters goalie but the ball bounced to the side of the net where Baker was able to beat everyone to the ball and put the game winning shot over the goaltender and into the net.

Baker who has seen meaningful minutes from midseason on passed much of the credit for the goal to her teammates. “I was set up really well by my teammates,” explained Baker. “I was set up with a real nice through ball but I overshot it. I noticed the ball wasn’t all the way out of bounds yet so I just sprinted to it and got a shot off. I don’t really even remember exactly what happened other than the great setup.”

Earlier in the day the #2 seeded Hermantown Hawks took thrilling to a new level with a 2-1 double overtime win over #10 seeded Chisago Lakes Area. Lyla Abukhodair provided both goals for the Hawks including a deflected shot halfway through the second overtime to help the Hawks advance.

Chisago Lakes struck first when Hannah Trandahl scored in the 31st minute to put the Wildcats up 1-0. It didn’t take long for the Hawks to answer the bell when five minutes later Abukhodair scored the first of her two goals with an assist from Hailey Hoff.

A fairly lackluster second half did not produce a goal for either team and sent the contest to overtime. The Hawks came out fired up in the first overtime and put plenty of pressure on the Chisago Lakes net but could not get the ball past the Gabby Randall, who finished with 16 saves on the day.

At the 94:23 mark of the second overtime things were finally settled when Abukhodair let a hard shot go from the slot about 20 yards out. The goaltender came out and made a nice block on the ball only to have it ricochet and bounce off Abukhodair, reverse direction and go back over the goalies and roll into the net.

“I got the goal but it really came because of the hard work and pressure of the entire team.” Abukhodair explained. “I’m not sure exactly what happened, (the shot) hit the goalie and then came back and hit me and the next thing you know it went in.”

Hermantown netminder Courtney Simmons wasn’t surprised the game came down to a fluke goal. “They had a lot of good chances and we had a lot of good chances and just couldn’t bury it, but thankfully we had Lyla who just came back from injury and bury both of them, which is helpful for our team.”

Abukhodair nearly didn’t get a chance for her heroics when just a minute and a half earlier the Wildcats had a jailbreak style breakaway, which Simmons came way out of the net to stuff the scoring attempt and make the most important of her eight saves.

“There was like four of them coming down and all I knew was I had to try and stick my body out somewhere and try to save it for our team,” Simmons explained of her spectacular save. “I knew my defense was coming back so I figured if I got a piece of it they could clear it. After the save I got up as quick as I could to get the ball back to our offense because I sure didn’t want to go to a shootout.”

Semi-Final action will resume on Tuesday with the Hawks hosting Esko-Carlton and Cloquet traveling to Princeton. The Hawks and Eskomos split on the season with each team winning on the road.

Cloquet played to a 1-1 tie with Princeton and the Lumberjacks are more than ready for a re-match. “We played them tough the first time and gave up an own goal to get a 1-1 tie. We like the way we are playing right now and believe in our team,” explained Randall.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com