Jacks Head To State Soccer Tournament Today

Oct 25, 2012

Northland Sports Online

The Cloquet Lumberjacks will make their second state tournament appearance in the past four years. In 2009 the Jacks finished third in the state by beating La-Crescent by a 1-0 score in the Metrodome. A pep rally and send off will be held at 1:15pm today at Cloquet High School.

No. 3 Seed Totino-Grace of Fridley (15-2-2) from section five vs. Cloquet (12-5-3) of Section 7 — 5:30 p.m., Oct. 25, at Roseville Area High School:

The Eagles of Totino-Grace, who were ranked No. 4 in the final coaches poll, are looking to improve on last year’s third-place showing. They are making their second consecutive appearance and their 11th overall. If they win this year, it would be their fourth championship; they won previously in 2001, 2002 and 2007. Totino-Grace was defeated 2-1 by Benilde-St. Margaret’s this year. The Eagles scored 61 goals this season and average 3.05 per game to their opponents’ 0.53. Senior Annmarie Umland leads Totino-Grace with 12 goals and junior Grace Steinhauser added nine more. Sophomore goalkeeper Gabrielle Eisfelder allowed 13 goals this year and has a 0.91 save percentage.

The unranked Lumberjacks of Cloquet return for their seventh overall appearance. This year’s team, which includes students from Cloquet Christian Academy, fell to Benilde-St. Margaret’s 10-1 during regular-season play. Junior Maija Doran and ninth-grader Mikayla Baker tallied 16 and 14 points this year, respectively. Baker leads the team with 13 goals and Doran netted 11. Kenzie Rathe, Cloquet’s senior keeper, had eight shutouts during the regular season and boasts a 0.84 save percentage. The Lumberjacks also excel in the classroom; the team’s average GPA is 3.72 with nine players over 3.9.

No. 1 Seed (Section 6) Benilde-St. Margaret’s, St. Louis Park (18-0-1) vs. (Section 2) St. Peter (14-6-0) — 5:30 p.m., Oct. 26, at Park High School, Cottage Grove:

The Benilde-St. Margaret’s Knights, who were the No. 1 team in the final coaches association poll and the 2011 runners-up, are returning to make their third consecutive and eighth overall appearance. The Red Knights are prolific scorers with three players who have scored 19 or more goals — senior Dana Buckhorn with 21 goals and 19 assists, junior Kelly Pannek with 19 goals and 15 assists, and senior Maria Michels with 22 goals and seven assists.

The team accrued 95 goals while giving up just five. Benilde-St. Margaret’s defeated tournament qualifier Cloquet 10-1 early in the season, followed immediately by a 0-0 draw against tournament qualifier The Blake School of Minneapolis, and defeated tournament qualifier Totino-Grace 2-1 late during the regular season. Senior goalkeeper Annie Michels allowed just four goals all season while making 114 saves.

The St. Peter Saints are making their third consecutive and overall appearance. The Saints, who were unranked in the final coaches poll, lost in the 2011 quarterfinals and have not played any tournament qualifiers this season. Sophomores Marta Springer and Emily Lind lead St. Peter in scoring with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Senior goalkeeper Maria Siebels has the most minutes.

No. 4 Seed (Section 4) South St. Paul (13-4-2) vs. No. 5 Seed (Section 1) Kasson-Mantorville (15-5-0) — 7:30 p.m., Oct. 26, at Park High School, Cottage Grove:

The Packers of South St. Paul, ranked No. 9 by the coaches, earned the No. 4 seed and are making their second consecutive and overall appearance. They lost in the 2011 quarterfinals. They played The Blake School to a 2-2 tie midway through the regular season. Their advantage over opponents is 3.8 goals per game to 1.2. Junior Tori Poole leads the team with 21 goals and 10 assists. Three other players have also accumulated points in double figures. Senior goalkeeper Alicia Sethre has seen 180 shots on goals and saved all but 20.

Unranked Kasson-Mantorville, making its debut appearance, earned the No. 5 seed and did not play any tournament qualifiers this season. Senior Laurel Ramer has 44 points on 30 goals and 14 assists. She has 100 career goals, 44 career assists, both school records as are her single-season 30 goals. The KoMets, in scoring 69 goals this season, also established a team record. Sophomore Holly Hackenmiller handles net duties and saved 89 of 107 shots on goal.

No. 2 Seed (Section 3) The Blake School, Minneapolis (15-2-2) vs. (Section 8) Alexandria (14-5-1) — 7:30 p.m., Oct. 25, at Roseville Area High School:

The defending champion Bears of The Blake School are in the hunt for their third title in their fourth consecutive and eighth tournament appearance. In addition to last year, the Bears also won in 2000. They were ranked No. 2 in the final coaches’ poll. The team’s two matches against tournament qualifiers during the regular season both ended in ties – 0-0 to Benilde-St. Margaret’s and 2-2 to South St. Paul. Both senior Natalie Sill and junior Lydia Sutton lead the Bears with 22 points; Sill with 17 goals and five assists and Sutton with 11 goals and 11 assists. Senior goalkeeper Maddy Crawford gave up only 10 goals and played a big part in the team’s 15 shutouts.

The unranked Cardinals of Alexandria return for their second overall appearance. They scored 76 goals and allowed their opponents 36 goals. Senior Gabrielle Koel leads the Cardinals with 11 goals and six assists. Junior Anna Spanbauer has eight goals and six assists. Junior keeper Sarah Bruzek made allowed 19 goals in 1,630 minutes in net. Alexandria did not face any other tournament qualifiers this year.

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