Lady Jacks Win Shootout Thriller

By Dwight Cadwell
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Updated: October 30, 2009

Wes Vork-NSO

Click Here For Shootout And Post-Game Photos

Oct 29

Wes Vork-NSO

ROSEVILLE – After winning the Section 7A championship last week, Cloquet girls soccer head coach Dustin Randall told NSO in an interview, “I don’t think we are ready to be done yet, there is still some fight left in us.” With only 39.8 seconds left in regulation, Haley Bassett proved her coach right by scoring the game tying goal, keeping the Lumberjacks season alive and sending the game into overtime. The Jacks would hang on and eventually win the wild affair in a shootout 2-1 over East Ridge High School.

Although the Jacks controlled the tempo for most of the first half, both teams went into the break scoreless. Cloquet had the best scoring chance of the half when Emily Johnson hit the top of the crossbar, sending the ball bouncing back and forth between the crossbar and the football goalpost directly behind the soccer net.

With the rain picking up, both teams made runs in the second half only to come away scoreless once again. It appeared Cloquet had broken a scoreless tie with 14:45 minutes left in the game when Courtney Esse got loose and rifled a shot on goal. Unfortunately for the Jacks, the back of the net moving was caused by the thunderous ball hitting the crossbar rather than going in the net.

After going nearly 77 minutes without a goal, Anna Bygrave scored on a left-to-right crossing pass from Noelle Arcand with 3:07 left in regulation. After seeing his team work hard for nearly the entire game only to see them down 0-1, Coach Randall mentioned, “When they [East Ridge]
scored I kind of got that feeling in my stomach, but at the same time I really felt this game isn’t over.”

With time running out on the Jack’s season, several players got a crack at a loose ball in front of the Raptors net. The ball deflected to the open right side of the net and Bassett found herself in the right spot to get the tap in, tying the game with 39.8 seconds remaining. “I saw it [the ball] rolling on the line and got to it for the goal. I wanted so bad to keep our season alive; everyone has worked so hard I didn’t want it to end.”

East Ridge came out with a renewed sense of urgency and controlled the tempo of the first overtime. Of the Raptors seven corner kicks on the night, six came in overtime. The Cloquet defense and goaltending was up to the task however, sending the game to a second 10-minute overtime tied at one apiece.

Both teams had limited chances in the second overtime.
The big play in the this stanza came when Jacks netminder Kaitrin Rathe stopped a direct on goal with 1:16 left on the clock, setting up the final showdown.

While the Lumberjacks sent seasoned goalkeeper Rathe to the net for the upcoming shootout, East Ridge chose to switch from their starting goalkeeper to star junior midfielder Bianca Diaz. Cloquet’s Jessie Ryan got the first chance and scored on Diaz, Rathe followed up with a stop on East Ridge’s Aileen Scheibner. After that both teams traded goals with Bassett, Katie Pappas, and Lena Swander scoring for the Jacks. Cloquet’s fifth shooter Emily Johnson, with a chance to win the game, just missed the corner of the net.

With the first five rounds of the shootout ending in a 4-4 tie, Kate Proulx started the sudden death round by blowing a shot past Diaz to put the Jacks ahead and set the stage for Rathe. The Raptors sixth shooter was Bygrave, the person who scored in the second half for East Ridge. This time however, there would be no heroics, with Rathe putting herself in the perfect position to make the save and send the Lumberjacks into a wild celebration with the victory. “When they take a longer stride, it’s easier to tell which way they are going. However, she took a shorter stride, so I wasn’t
as sure. I took a guess and got it right,” Rathe commented.

After the game, Rathe credited the team’s practice routine for helping them win. “We practice shootouts and that gave me a lot of confidence. We have great shooters and I felt like I could handle it.” When Rathe noticed the Raptors switching goalkeepers, it added to her confidence. “”Noticing the switch made me feel like I had a bit of an edge, but at the same time she [Diaz] is a great player for them and I didn’t know if she had goalie skills.”

Rathe ended the night with seven saves for the Lumberjacks while Meagan Larson registered six saves for the Raptors. East Ridge had seven corner kicks to four for the Lumberjacks.

With the win, Cloquet advances to the semi-finals at 10:00 am Monday in the Metrodome. They will face #2 seeded Blake School, a 3-0 quarter-final winner over Mankato West. The Jacks participated in the semi-finals in both 2001 and 2002 and were led then by current assistant coaches Cassi Johnson and Maria Lammi.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com