Karkkainen’s Overtime Goal advances Eskomos to Section Finals

Wes Vork-NSO

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Oct 16, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

It took a wild bounce in overtime to finally decide which team would move on to play Cloquet in the Section 7A girls soccer final on Thursday night. Esko-Carlton was the recipient of the bounce and the Eskomos parlayed the bounce into a goal off the foot of Kadee Karkkainen to take a 2-1 win over the Hermantown Hawks the #2 seed in the tournament.

Esko-Carlton took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute when Ellie Emanuel rammed home a ball off a penalty kick that Hawks goalie Courtney Simmons had stopped but the Hawks didn’t clear the rebound. “The shot was great, but the save was amazing, then several of us rushed towards the ball and I was able to get the shot off and in,” said Emanuel of her goal.

The Hawks tied the score in the 73rd minute when Hailey Hoff put a shot past E-C goalie DeAhna Kulas. Like in the first half a penalty kick was awarded for a handball in the box; Hoff score on the penalty kick that made it 1-1.

The Eskomos finally picked up the game winner with 2:18 left in the first overtime when Emanuel rammed a shot off the right post that bounced back out to Karkkainen, who slammed the ball past Simmons, giving her team the overtime victory.

“It was great that Kadee was there to get the rebound after I hit the post. This was a total team effort, everyone just kept working and didn’t give up,” mentioned Emanuel.

Karkkainen, who appears to be making a habit of scoring important game winning goals scored the game winner in last year’s section finals against Chisago Lakes and send the Eskomos to state was elated after the game. “This is sooo exciting,” stated Karkkainen. “I was lucky enough to have Elle’s shot bounce onto my foot, but it could have been anyone of us, everyone worked hard and fought as a team.”

“The girls were tired by the end of regulation, so they were running on pure adrenalin in the overtime,” commented E/C coach Nikki Peterson. “This was more impressive yet, because we lost Marissa (Shady) in the second half to injury and couldn’t sub out like we would have liked.”

The Eskomos will now face next-door-neighbor Cloquet in the championship on Thursday night at 6pm at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth.

“It is great that two Northern teams are in the finals,” remarked Peterson. “We are very familiar with Cloquet. Unlike Princeton, we have to be aware of their speed, especially on turf, but we like the match-up and it should be a great game.”

The Eskomos will now advance to Thursday’s championship game against Cloquet at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth. The game originally scheduled for 7:00pm has been moved up to 6:00pm to accommodate a later 8:00pm game. The boys Section 7A finals, was slated to be played in Chisago Lakes has been moved to PSS because Duluth Marshall and Duluth Denfeld made the finals.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com