Fargo Shanley-Oak Grove defender Spencer Jacobson picked a good time to score the biggest goal of his career.
The senior scored the game-winning goal in Friday’s semifinal game of the North Dakota boys state soccer tournament, lifting the Deacons into today’s championship game with a 2-1 win over Grand Forks Red River at Cushman Field.
With a little more than 15 minutes to play, Jacobson made a move to the net past three Red River defenders and drilled a shot past goalie Jayce Turner.
“Oh, my gosh, I have no idea how that happened,” Jacobson said. “I saw three guys in front of me; all I did was try to find some open space. Once I found it, I kicked it with my laces and it happened to go through his legs.”
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As far as where the goal ranks in his career, “that’s No. 1 by far,” Jacobson said.
Red River started strong and scored the first goal at 5:31 of the first half on a Braden Axtman penalty-kick.
The Deacons responded 15 minutes later when Matt Wolbaum made a lead pass that went by every Roughrider defender and landed on the foot of Zakk Jamieson, who finished.
“We played really well,” Shanley-Oak Grove coach Michael Breker said. “I felt, in the second half particularly, if one team was going to win that game it was going to be us.
“We came out flying … we knew with our defensive record it was going to take that one to get us going. And that just set us up for the rest of the game. We played fantastic in the second half.”
The Deacons had more opportunities than the Roughriders - Turner finished with 10 saves, while sophomore Jared Fowler finished with six for Shanley-Oak Grove.
But it was Fowler who made the save of the game.
With nine minutes to play, Axtman tried to head-in a Roughrider corner kick, but Fowler laid out to make a diving save that kept the Deacons in front.
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“He’s the most unassuming kid,” Breker said of Fowler. “But he comes up with saves like that more than anyone could possibly believe. It’s ridiculous.”
Though Red River’s season will end in today’s third-place game, coach Luke Glasoe was proud of the season put together by the Roughriders.
“We had really good season,” he said. “We were in last place of the EDC last year, so to be in the semifinal of the state tournament, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s good for the guys. It’s good for the program.”
