High Schools
Seniors Cecilia Emery and Aynslea Ulschmid scored for the Zephyrs, a team motivated by bitter memories.
By David La Vaque
Senior midfielder Cecilia Emery scored in the 24th minute to put Mahtomedi on the board first Friday. Her fourth goal this season marked just the seventh goal conceded for Holy Angels.
It also kicked off a successful revenge tour for Mahtomedi’s 11 seniors. They lost to Holy Angels in the 2022 Class 2A title game and dropped the 2023 Class 2A, Section 4 title game to Totino-Grace.
“Last year definitely was a reset for us,” one player said after Wednesday’s semifinal. Another said the team doesn’t “want another ending like last year.”
Mission accomplished.
Mahtomedi beat Holy Angels 2-0 Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium for the Class 2A girls soccer state championship.
“It’s tough to motivate a team that’s won four state championships in a row,” Mahtomedi coach Dave Wald said. “It’s a lot easier to coach a team that’s bitter. And we were bitter this year.”
Holy Angels coach Dave Marshak was half joking, half concerned when he said Mahtomedi might have the tallest, most athletic girls soccer team he had ever seen. The focus of Marshak’s concern was junior goalkeeper Harlow Berger, a 6-foot-3 kicker for the Zephyrs football team.
“I don’t know what you do with that,” Marshak said. “What you saw tonight is us trying to stay in a prize fight when the other fighter had another 5 inches of reach.”
Senior midfielder Aynslea Ulschmid gave the Zephyrs a 2-0 lead with her goal in the 65th minute. Ulschmid’s eighth goal of the season had opposing emotional effects.
“When they got that goal, it did put us down a little,” Holy Angels senior defender Eleanor Smith said.
Ulschmid said: “My personal energy level went up. And as a team, we were so defensively alert and offensively ready to attack.”
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Mahtomedi’s last goal allowed was Oct. 5 at East Ridge, a Class 3A state tournament semifinalist. Since then, the Zephyrs rolled up six consecutive shutouts.
David La Vaque is a high school sports reporter who has been the lead high school hockey writer for the Star Tribune since 2010. He is co-author of “Tourney Time,” a book about the history of Minnesota’s boys hockey state tournament published in 2020 and updated in 2024.
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The Spuds won the matchup during the regular season, and Friday’s game was another touchdown-filled event.
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