2011 State Soccer Tournament Boys 2A Semifinal; Eden Prairie vs Maple Grove

Mall of America Field (Metrodome)

Eden Prairie  2-0  Maple Grove

The first of two boys 2A semifinals got underway at noon today at the Metrodome. After the first few minutes of play between the Eden Prairie Eagles (15-3-3) and the Maple Grove Crimson (14-5-2) you would have expected plenty of early goals with several good chances by the Eagles. In the end, spectators had to wait until the final 4 minutes of the game to see the two goals that advanced Eden Prairie to the finals with a 2-0 win.

Maple Grove dodged a bullet in the 18th minute when Eden Prairie took their 4th corner of the game. It was nodded towards goal by junior forward Roman Derevanko and deflected off a Crimson defender, hitting the right post before being cleared.

In the 23rd minute Eagles senior midfielder Stephan Quie latched on to a ball in the box. From 8 yards out he hit a point blank shot hitting Maple Grove goalkeeper PJ Enright square in the face. Just three minutes later Eden Prairie’s senior midfielder Ryan Shore took a point blank shot but it was blocked by Enright. Eden Prairie’s Medo Youssef shot the rebound but his blast caromed off the crossbar.

Maple Grove senior forward Sydney Robinson was left with a good chance when he was fed on the left side of the penalty box in the 33rd minute. With a good look at goal he struck his right-footed shot hard but blew it high over the goal.

Perhaps the best chance for the Crimson came in the 34th minute when senior defender Alex Niederloh was fed through after some nifty give-and-gos for Maple Grove. But the ball was pounced on by Eden Prairie goalkeeper Alex Dewey as Niederloh struggled to get the ball out from under his feet.

At the half the stats were overwhelmingly in favor of Eden Prairie leading 14-5 in shots and forcing Maple Grove into 7 saves.

Maple Grove’s junior Radu Necula had a chance 8 minutes into the second half. With players compacted in the box he had pushed up from right back position and fired a shot through a crowd of players but the ball went inches high over the crossbar.

The Crimson continued to press as they played with more confidence transitioning well out of the back and playing through the middle of the field. Despite second half stats that showed Maple Grove outshooting Eden Prairie 6-2 it was the Eagles who finally broke the deadlock.

In the 77th minute Eden Prairie senior defender Dane Niemira crossed the ball from a deep, wide position on the right. Sophomore attacker Abdul Omar first touched the ball from close range knocking it into the Maple Grove goal and putting Eden Prairie up 1-0 with 3 minutes left to play.

Just one minute from regulation it was Omar again. He settled the ball with his chest after he receiving a cross from Michael Vuolo who was wide on the left side of the field. Omar second touch was a good one slamming the ball home and leaving no doubt that Eden Prairie would be moving on to the finals.

“I feel really great right now because we’re going to the finals,’” said Omar. “Early on we got it going but we just couldn’t find the back of the net. We were just a bit unlucky. We had 14 shots in the first half which is great but we just couldn’t find it. Coach told us at half to just keep doing what we were doing but to try to make those runs to the outside and that’s exactly how our goals came. My first goal, the game winner, was really easy. Dane Niemira made a great cross and that’s all I had to do was tap it in.”

“We knew what we were up against,” said Maple Grove head coach Greg Leininger. “They have a very deep team, 18 strong. They just wear you down. That’s there game plan and that’s what they do. That’s kind of what got us in the end. In the first half we were a little bit surprised and wide eyed. We made a few adjustments at halftime and I think we won the second half if your measuring it as a boxing match. We just realized that we can play with these guys so we started playing out of the back and playing through the middle. But it all happened in the last two minutes – they just got in and got to us.”

“We always tell the kids that we have one goal for the season and that’s to be playing our best soccer by the end of the season,” said Eagles coach Vince Thomas as he looked toward the final. “I think we managed to do that. Early in the game we were not smart. In the final we are going to have move the ball laterally a lot better than we did tonight. We just aren’t going to beat fast teams by dribbling through the middle. So if we play smart I think we’ll have a chance because we have guys on this team who can score goals. Just like this game it will probably come down to one or two plays that will make the difference.”