2009 MN State HS Soccer Boys 2A Semifinal – Northfield Fights Nobly but Apple Valley Too Much
The first boys 2A game of the night saw the Apple Valley Eagles (22-0-0) face off against the Northfield Raiders (14-4-3) and it only took 19 seconds for Apple Valley to exert its dominance by scoring a goal on their first trip down the field. Tom Obarski connected to put the Eagles up 1-0.
Northfield’s luck only got worse as they were called for a rather innocuous looking foul in the box just 5 minutes later. The spot kick was taken by class 2A Mr. Soccer Bijan Jabari, who slotted the ball in for the second goal in 5 minutes.
Credit to Northfield, where some teams may have succumbed to the attack-minded Apple Valley, they continued to battle back. The Raiders picked their moments and countered on Apple Valley a number of times, finally making it count in the 26th minute. A foul was called against Apple Valley 1 yard in front of the penalty box. Northfield’s Caleb Yurek stepped up and hit a blast into the upper 90 that was still rising when it hit its mark. Apple Valley’s goalkeeper Tim Van Beck was helpless and hardly moved before the shot hit the back netting.
Apple Valley led at the half not only by the score of 2-1 but also by shots on goal at 8-1.
The game remained 2-1 Apple Valley until the 46th minute when David Rosenthal scored for Apple Valley assisted by Stephen Johnson. The goal for Rosenthal made the senior forward the all-time leading scorer in Apple Valley history.
Northfield battled back once more and at 72:48 the Raiders brought the game back within one. Adam Hadro fed a ball to Aaron Stets, who sent a canon into the left side of goal from 19 yards out.
Northfield continued to fight but it was too little too late as Apple Valley hung on for the 3-2 win.
2nd half stats showed the the teams nearly even in shots with 5 for Apple Valley and 4 for Northfield.
Apple Valley will now play in the Boys 2A final at 5:30 on Thursday against the winner of the Wayzata v Woodbury game.
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It wasn’t 19 seconds into the game. It was 22 seconds into the game. I was there, and as a former Northfielder, it hurt.
That’s what I had also but I changed my write up when the official box scores were released to the media in the press box and the time they had was 19 seconds. Those stats I believe are actually kept on the field. Sorry to add insult to injury.
Hey, AV is a very, very good team and I thought your guys played them extremely well. If they hadn’t let in those two early goals they may have been able to pull a rabbit out of a hat. I think what Northfield did so effectively was stopped the midfield game for AV not allowing them to start the attack from just past the 1/2 way line like they normally do. Once they get into the attacking third, look out. Cause there is hardly any stopping them.
I also didn’t like that the ref really did not do much to protect the Northfield keeper. He was upended a number of times and there was never even a word of warning from the official. I don’t think the AV players were doing it maliciously. They were just very aggressive, but still…