2009 Minnesota State Soccer Tournament Girls 2A Goes To Wayzata

2009 November 5

by Kyle Nelson

Wayzata 2 – 1 Woodbury

The final for the girls’ 2A State High School Championship matched the #1 team in the nation, the Woodbury Royals, against the 3rd seed in the tournament, the Wayzata Trojans. To most, Wayzata was an underdog team. “If you’re going to look at stats and where they were ranked and where we were ranked they were favored for a reason, they’re a very solid,” said Wayzata coach Tony Peszneker, but added, “There wasn’t a great deal of difference between the two teams.”

Taylor Woodnick scores on a header - Photo By Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net

Though short on goals, the first half was not without some goal mouth action coming from Woodbury and a few chances from Wayzata as well. In the early minutes of the game Kylie Schwartz made a strong run at goal for the Royals but was unable to get a solid shot on goal resulting in an easy save. A few moments earlier Alyssa DuVal took the ball the other way for the Trojans, but with the same result.

Despite their known ability off of set pieces, Woodbury was unable to score off the six corner kicks the Royals had in the first half. “We were lucky they didn’t score off of a corner,” said Peszneker, “One of the things we tried to do was not give them anything easy. [The coaches] told [our team] we can’t give away corners because [Woodbury is] very deadly.” Defender Kassey Kallman nearly sent one directly into the goal from the left side of the field. Later in the game midfielder Caitlin Graboski headed a shot towards the far post off another corner kick sent in by Kallman, but was denied by a Wayzata defender who cleared it off the line.

Another close chance came from Royals midfielder Rachael VanKeulen who made a run far post as a ball came in from the right side, but her defender used her position to prevent VanKeulen from getting a shot off and probably scoring a goal. VanKeulen took another shot later on that was going far post, but the Wayzata keeper snagged the ball just before Woodbury midfielder Emily Morris was able to redirect in onto goal.

Against the flow of play Wayzata was able to get on the scoreboard first. In the 49 minute a cross was sent in from the right flank then deflected off of the heads of a Woodbury and Wayzata player before falling to the feet of midfielder Erin Krause who kept the ball low and beat the keeper. Coach Peszneker knew the importance of the goal, but kept it in perspective, “It was very important to get the first one. It helped calm the girls’ nerves down, but we still had to defend. I wasn’t excited because there was way too much time.”

Soon after the Wayzata goal, Woodbury looked to answer with a free kick. Kallman sent the ball to the far side of the box where Graboski headed the ball back to the middle where Madison Nelson connected first-time, but sent the shot wide of the goal.

During an aggressive run forward by Woodbury in the 58th minute of play, Wayzata made some nice defensive stops, but a penalty kick was awarded to Wayzata for a push in the box. Grabowski stepped up to the spot to take it and calmly beat the keeper with a bit of a chip shot to the goalie’s right.

With a goal each, both teams began to raise the offensive pressure. The back lines held strong despite a few near chances until Wayzata broke the dead lock in the 69th minute. Forward Nora Christensen received a ball just onside brought it to the goal line and crossed it in front of the goal where fellow forward Taylor Wodnick used her position and directed the ball off the far post and into the goal. “Taylor is a top-notch player.” praised Peszneker, “You have to rise to the occasion and Taylor rose to the occasion all year.”

Finding themselves behind once again, Woodbury continued to pressure the Wayzata defense, but the back line did well to prevent shots. Woodbury got on last chance to tie as Kallman brought the ball to the goal line earning a corner kick, but the resulting kick was cleared out of the box. In the last final seconds Wayzata did everything they could to keep the ball away from their goal and the numerous Woodbury players positioned just outside of it. The held strong and came away with the win.

A full photo gallery of the game can be found at Digital Gopher.net