ALEXANDRIA, Minn. - East Grand Forks Senior High’s bid to reach the Minnesota Class A girls high school soccer tournament ended in a shootout Thursday night.
In the Section 8A championship, Sartell-St. Stephen and the Green Wave played to a 1-1 tie. In the shootout, Sartell-St. Stephen won 4-3 to capture its second straight section title.
Senior High, which ended the season 15-4-0, was attempting to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2010.
“You never want to see a game go to a shootout,” Senior High coach Marco Campoverde said. “Anything can happen in that situation.
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“We have a fine goalkeeper and several good shooters. We felt we were prepared (for a shootout). We worked at it.”
Sam Rarick and Riley Koberinski opened the shootout with goals for the Wave. After Rachel Jenson couldn’t convert on Senior High’s third attempt, Paige Hjelle scored on the Wave’s fourth shootout try, but Erica Eades ended the Wave bid when she missed.
Sartell St. Stephen received goals in the shootout from Megan Cook, Bria Ferns, Amanda Fleming and Olivia Garner.
Koberinski scored her 51st goal of the season at the 25-minute mark in the first half to give Senior High an early 1-0 lead. But that was all Senior High could muster against a Sabres defense that has allowed only 17 goals in 20 games this season.
The score stayed 1-0 until Sartell-St. Stephen tied the game with seven minutes left in regulation when Fleming scored on a penalty kick.
“Our defense did a fantastic job, holding them to just the one goal on a penalty kick,” Campoverde said. “We competed extremely well.
“They (Sabres) played well together. They have the tournament experience; they were very composed. But I didn’t think we were overmatched. We had a few near-misses. We hit the post on a shot in overtime that would have been the game-winner.”
Rarick had 17 saves in goal for the Wave. Allie Hemmesch turned back 12 shots for the Sabres.
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Sartell-St. Stephen takes a 13-3-4 record to the state tournament next week.
