2009 MN State High School Soccer Boys 1A Champions – Apple Valley

Apple Valley is the Boys 2A Minnesota State High School Soccer Champion, winning 4-0 tonight over Wayzata who had previously gone 9 games without a loss.

Apple Valley was threatening from the get-go of this contest with the Eagles getting 11 shots off in the first half but only forcing 3 saves from Wayzata goalkeeper Grant Larson.

23 minutes into the match Apple Valley finally connected. David Rosenthal, who broke Apple Valley’s all time record for career scoring in the semifinal match, was the provider on this one. Rosenthal broke his defender on the right side and deep in Wayzata territory. He found the only Eagle player in the vicinity. Kyle Steinberger had made a far post run and when he saw Rosenthal start to fire the cross he anticipated better than his defender, slipping him and getting to the ball first. Steinberger met the ball with the most deft of touches with his head, popping it up and over the 9th grade goalkeeper Larson and into the net via the far post. Apple Valley was in the lead by 1.

Tom Obarski celebrates the first of his two goal performance - Photo by Jeremy Olson

“I saw the defender was over committing so I did a step over and let it run through may legs,” said Rosenthal. “I just crossed it and hoped someone would be on the far post and Steinberger was making a hard run. He got his body in front of it and put it over the keeper and in.”

Apple Valley coach Chuck Scanlon said the opening goal went according to the script. “They (Wayzata) jammed up the center before on their last opponent Woodbury. So we wanted to get the ball under control and work it outside because we knew Wayzata was a good marking team.”

That’s how the game stayed although Apple Valley had 2 chances hit off the goal frame in the first half. One a header hitting the crossbar and another shot pinging off the left post.

Apple Valley kept up the pressure and finally 9 minutes into the second half, Tom Obarski brought the lead to 2-0. This time Steinberger became the feeder as he gave Obarski a driven pass. Obarski slotted the ball low and far post from the left top of the penalty box.

With 10 minutes left in the game, Apple Valley goalkeeper Tim Van Beck earned himself an assist, the first ever of his career.  As the junior keeper was being mobbed by his teammates after the game he jokingly described his moment of glory. “I grabbed the ball, I went to the top of the box and I set it down. Then I kicked it,” laughed Van Beck. Which in essence is exactly what the junior goalkeeper did, finding Kyle Web 15 yards deep into Wayzata territory. Web turned, looked up and without hesitation unleashed a 35 yard shot over the Trojan keeper who was off his line. The shot flew in just under the crossbar for the 3rd goal of the game.

But in typical Apple Valley fashion they continued to attack. With one minute to play in the game, the Eagles’ Obarski earned his second goal of the game. He received a tricky ball from Rosenthal that slipped between defenders and found the junior forward who drove a ball low and far post beating Larson for the 4th time of the evening and tallying his 2nd goal of the night and the State Championship for the Eagles.

The Eagles played pile-on for their championship celebration - Photo by Jeremy Olson

The Championship is also Scanlon’s 8th, but he didn’t want the attention turned towards him. “The kids did it tonight but that’s the way we played the entire year. We didn’t play as well against Northfield but they’re a good team. Tonight we had a much cleaner game.”

The Eagles coach said he had concerns about the Wayzata Trojans and their 9-game win streak. “Wayzata is a giant slayer,” said Scanlon. “We wanted to make sure they didn’t take out number 1 after taking out number 2 and 3.”

“I have a lot of respect for these kids and their parents,” said Scanlon. “We have some really outstanding athletes who really know how to play the game. The way our team played tonight was really championship soccer.”

Rosenthal, who has been successful at both the club and high school level, was asked what he thought of the criticism sometimes raised over the lower level of play in high school soccer compared to club. “Its two different games,” stated Rosenthal. “The summer games is all about select teams and how to find the best teams in regions, stuff like that. But high school soccer is all about playing with your friends, the guys you grew up with. To me it’s a lot more special, a lot more meaningful to win something with these guys than it would to win something with my summer team.”

This one was very special for Rosenthal and his teammates. Apple Valley ends the season 24-0-0, nationally ranked, and is the first team ever to win a Minnesota State High School Championship without a loss or a tie.

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