2011 State Soccer Tournament Girls 1A Semifinal; Benilde-St. Margaret’s vs. Totino-Grace

Mall of America Field (Metrodome)

Benilde-St. Margaret’s  3-0  Totino-Grace

It didn’t take long for the number one seed Benilde-St. Margaret Red Knights (18-0-3) to put pressure on the Totino-Grace Eagles (14-5-2). Benilde came close several times in the early going and finally in the 11th minute they took the lead. Red Knights junior forward Dana Buckhorn was fed with a pass from sophomore defender Katie Oppenheimer. Buckhorn wound up and hit a 25 yard laser shot into the upper 90 of the far post. The shot seemed to catch Tontino-Grace goalkeeper Danielle Keliher off guard as she never moved for the ball, possibly thinking it was going wide.

The rest of the half was all Red Knights outshooting the Eagles 6-0. Still, the scoreline remained 1-0 at half.

Just 4 minutes into the second half Red Knights senior midfielder Peggy Reiner was fed from Maria Michels on the left side of the field. She dribbled into the box beating three defenders before slotting a low shot to the far post past Kelliher that put Benilde-St. Margaret’s up 2-0.

In the 53rd minute it was Michels again after being fed through. She was all alone on the left side with a defender by her side. With only Keliher to beat she let go her shot but hit it just wide of goal.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s put the game out of reach for Totino-Grace in the 70th minute when senior midfielder Alyssa Hoffman was taken down in the box. Sophomore midfielder Kelly Pannek stepped up to take the kick and hit it just under Keliher to put her team up 3-0.

The Red Knights ended the night outshooting Totino-Grace 18-2 forcing 5 saves from Keliher.

“I got the ball from the outside defender, Katie Oppenhiemer,” said Buckhorn who explained her game winning goal. “She played me to the center, I turned and had no pressure so I thought I’d just take the shot to the far post.”

“I feel really good about the final. We haven’t played Blake yet this season but as long as we play the way we did tonight I think will win it.”

“When we played them earlier in the season in a conference game they took us to the last 15 seconds of the game before we won it,” said Benilde-St. Margaret’s head coach Scott Helling-Christy. “So we were very happy we scored right away, I think that was key for us.”

Helling-Christy liked how his team played but stated that he expects a battle against The Blake School in the final. “Blake is coming in with only one loss and that was to Lakeville North who is ranked number one in the state. So they’ve been playing really well. I think it’s going to be a really, really tight game. I think it’s going to come down to who’s lucky enough to get a goal.”