2009 MN State High School Soccer Boys 1A Champions – Mahtomedi

2009 November 5

by Brian Quarstad

Mahtomedi 2 – 0 Hermantown

The boys 1A championship game featured two teams that the experts said were not expected to make it to the final. Mahtomedi section 4A champs came in to this game with a record of 16-3-3 having knocked off the #1 seeded team and #1 ranked team in the state, Totino-Grace, by a score of 1-0 in a shootout. Previously they had played St. Cloud Cathedral to a 1-0 win.

Hermantown, the section 7A winner came into this game with a record of 22-1-0. The had beaten Mankato West 2-1, and Simley 2-1 to get to the final.

Photo By Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net

Everyone expected a scrappy game but within 10 minutes Mahtomedi was exerting their dominance and scoring goals. In fact 2 in the span of 2 minutes.

In the 14th minute of play Ryan Redman received a ball at the top arc of the penalty box. Redman took a step to set himself up and fired a canon just inside the right goalpost giving Hermantown goalkeeper Andrew Samberg no chance to save the driven ball.

Then just two minutes later, Mahtomedi was awarded a free kick from 25 yards out. Bernardo Medellin stepped up and fired over Hermantown’s 5-man wall and into the left side of goal, putting the Zephyrs up 2-0.

“I played football before at Mahtomedi but have always played club soccer my whole life,” said the goal scorer Medellin. “This year we had a special team – a lot of friends on the team from my club team and it’s something I really wanted to do for my senior year. I knew when I got the free kick I wanted to take it. Me and Will (Corcoran) usually take those and he said this one is yours. It was a good shot but a better game. Defensively, offensively our keeper James (Neher) played a great game. I’m happy!”

Opportunities kept arising for Mahtomedi as they out-pressed the Hawks. Mike Potocnik broke free of the Hermantown defense again with 13 minutes left in the first half. The junior forward looked to have himself a goal with the keeper frozen and Potocnik one-on-one. But his shot went just wide right of the open goal.

Emmanuel Giddings looked to break down the defense again just a minute later. The forward broke free and went one-on-one with Samberg. But Samburg smothered the shot as Giddings flipped over the Hermantown keeper.

With three minutes left in the first half, Hermantown were awarded their first free kick in a dangerous area after a near chance for the Hawks. The ball was lofted into the box but was easily cleared by the stingy Mahtomedi defense.

At the end of the half the statistics backed up Mahtomedi’s dominance with 13 shots to the Hawks 0 and corner kicks 3-1.

The second half saw Hermantown step it up a notch but the Zephyrs’ defense were rock solid and shut the Hawks down to 2 shots on goal. Mahtomedi were able to muster 7 more shots, the last one with 13 seconds left in the game. Mahtomedi’s Tabor Wolde broke down the field cutting left as he approached the box. From 8 yards out, the forward shot low right and beat Samberg for the last goal of the game.

The Zephyrs placed 2nd in the 1997 tournament and Mahtomedi coach Paul Beggin said this was the school’s first championship win. He said the speed of his team was the difference. “The kids have improved with each game,” said Beggin. “I think we just got stronger and more confident. We decided at the end of the year we could take it to goal. That was something we were missing in the other games. I think we were a little quicker than them. We were working at taking it outside and bringing it back to the inside. We thought we could beat them with that – and it worked.”

“The greatest thing is we don’t have a star on our team,” stated team captain Will Corcoran. “We don’t have to rely on one player. That’s what makes us best. If one of us is having a bad game the other people around them really step up. There’s not one player who is just a physical presence on the field. We all have ball skills and different players offer us different things. Tabor (Wolde) up top, he likes to hold onto the ball a little longer, I try to overlap around him. I know the E-man (Emmanuel Giddings) loves to run through so I try to feed him those balls. We work together, we don’t need to have one man. The players on this team are awesome!”

With 4 minutes left in the game the Hawks put a high ball into the box. Mahtomedi’s keeper James Neher went high to grab the ball and tumbled over a Hermantown attacker who also went up for the ball. Neher came down in what looked like a normal fall. Play was held up for 25 minutes as the medical team attended to Neher. The keeper sat up after the play and then collapsed. The staff were treating Neher for a neck injury. Mahtomedi’s coach Beggin said, “James Neher was huge, not just in size.” He added that he thought Neher would be fine and was taken to the hospital for precautions. “He was smiling and just said he felt pretty bruised.”

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