2010 State Soccer Tournament Girls Class A Semifinals

Mahtomedi  3-0   Blake

The Mahtomedi Zephyrs (19-0-4) defeated the Blake Bears (18-1-2) by a score of 3-0 on Monday afternoon in the first game of the Girls Class A semifinals. All three goals were scored by Emily Sierakowski.

Blake suffered a setback early as goalkeeper Addie Adams was injured in a collision with a Mahtomedi player. Maddy Crawford stood in for Adams but faced 21 Zephyr shots and was forced to make 12 saves in the game.

Sierakowski opened Mahtomedi’s account in the 37th minute when she accepted a diagonal ball from midfield. She dribbled in and went around one Bears defender and bulged the net for her first of the day.

Her second came just 3-minutes into the second half. Kristen Rasske took a corner kick for the  Zephyrs. The ball was played out to Sierakowski who blasted the ball through traffic for the goal.

Sierakowski last goal was also off a corner. This time both teams ended up scrambling for possession. The junior forward won the battle out tapping in her 3rd of the afternoon.

Sierakowski is not the Zephyrs  leading scorer. That title goes to Mehan Bolton. But coach Dave Wald says Sierakowski always seems to come up with goals in important games.

“She’s the type of kid that scores in big games,” said Wald. “She’s a big game player. She’s not the type of kid who’s going to get the 4 or 5 goals that pad the stats. Her goals always seem to be big goals against big teams.”

Senior goalkeeper Sharon Oldani also had an outstanding performance in goal for Mahtomedi making several key saves. In the first half she dove hard to her left to parry away a shot from Lydia Sutton that looked to be goal bound. In the second half she blocked a shot with her face. But coach Wald says Oldani’s personality off the field is very different from the aggressive one you will find on the field. He says she’s often worried about taking playing time away from a teammate.

“When I put on my goalie stuff and get on the field my mentality changes,” said Oldani. “You just have to be dominating the whole time if you want to make those saves.”

Roger  1-0 Chisago Lakes

The Roger Royals (23-0-0) continued on their winning ways on Monday afternoon defeating the Chisago Lake Wildcats (16-6-1).

The Royals got on the board early when Jessica Bianchi gathered in a  pass from All-State midfielder Amber Paul. Bianchi let rip an 18-yard blast high over the head of Chisago goalkeeper Mary Burch to put the Royals ahead 1-0 in the 6th minute of the game.

“This team is special because we’ve been all together since 8th grade,” said Burch. “Some of us were actually with the team and made it to the dome that year So it’s really nice to come back now that we’re juniors and seniors.”

Central midfielder Amber Paul concurred: “We’ve all been together since we were 10-years old and we’re best friends. You can really see that on the field because it’s all about the team.”

The Burch goal would be the only tally of the game and the Wildcats who had a great late season run saw their good luck come to an end.

Chisago had beaten #1 seed Benilde St. Maragret on their march to the State Tournament. In that game BSM outshot the Wildcats 20-5. So Rogers head coach Holly Sutton was understandably not all that comfortable with a 1-0 lead even though the Royals outshot Chisago 23-3.

“It did make me a little nervous,” said Sutton. “You always want to go into a playoff game not expecting anything – because anything can happen. I came into this game knowing a little bit about Chisago. They have a good player up top (Cassandra Trandahl) their transitions are quick. But I’ve told them all season, as long as we play our game that will take care of it. They do that. They adapt really quickly and that’s why we win games.