MONTICELLO — The St. Cloud Cathedral boys soccer team is through to the Class 1A state semifinal for the second year in a row.
It is the team’s fourth-consecutive trip to state beating Duluth Marshall 2-1 on Thursday at Monticello High School. The Crusader boys played after the Cathedral girls team also played in the Class A state tournament, but the girls lost in penalty kicks to Esko after going goalless in standard time and OT.
Neither Crusader team has played for a state soccer championship. The boys team won third place last year, but has bigger goals in 2024. Cathedral will play Rochester Lourdes (16-3-1) in the semifinal at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
“We’ve been lucky enough to get here the past three years — we got third place last year which is not our end goal, so teams like to doubt us because we’ve lost the past three years,” Cathedral senior forward Jack Stang said after the game Thursday. “This year we’re going for it all.”
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Lourdes is coming off of a 5-0 quarterfinal win over Fridley (8-8-1). Cathedral has not played the Eagles this season, though both teams played Holy Family (7-9-1) in late September. Lourdes beat the Fire 1-0 and the Crusaders won 2-1.
The Eagles’ main scoring threat is sophomore Blake Moynagh, who trails only Cathedral junior Jacob Oliver across the state in goals scored this year. Oliver has 42 with 17 assists and Moynagh has 30 goals with eight assists. Lourdes seniors Aidan Kane and Jack Broadbent are also offensive threats with 17 and 14 goals respectively. Broadbent leads the team in assists with 23 and Kane’s 19 ranks second. Lourdes plays another sophomore in goal. Will Jacob has a save percentage of .864 and has allowed 1.65 goals per game this season.
The Minnesota High School Soccer Coaches Association ranked Lourdes No. 6 in its final poll, below Cathedral at No. 2. The Crusaders had the same seeding in the state tournament, below St. Paul Academy and Summit School (15-3-1), and the Eagles were seeded No. 3.
Cathedral’s quarterfinal matchup was against a Hilltopper team the Crusaders had previously beaten 2-1 on Sept. 21 at home. Cathedral coach Alex Hess said Duluth Marshall’s record betrayed a “much better team” out of a really competitive Section 7-1A.
“Usually the top four teams — it’s anybody’s game,” Hess said. “This year I would expand that to the top eight teams.
On Thursday the Marshall boys played a physical game. Most hip and shoulder checks were allowed, but several yellow cards were awarded to players on both teams. The ball skipped quickly on a rain-slicked turf and Stang scored the opener for Cathedral. He found a deflection with his left foot and the ball bounced in off the right post.
Marshall junior Levi Mertens tied the game up minutes later with a laser that skimmed the bottom of the crossbar.
The Hilltoppers had a lot of speed up front that allowed its defenders and senior goalie Thomas Falgier to bomb kicks downfield on either sideline. They also had skill in the backfield with full backs like Mertens that pushed into a scoring zone.
“They have a great attack,” Stang said. “Very quick and they can push it up the sides very well.”
The Crusaders had a few grade-A opportunities to score in the first half with the ball bouncing around Marshall’s goal box, but didn’t capitalize until senior Jacob Oliver found the bottom left corner of the net with his left foot at 66 minutes. Neither Crusader goal was assisted.
“That tandem of Jack (Stang) and Jacob (Oliver) is tough to stop,” Hess said. “Then you have (senior Connor) Stockman and (senior) Mason (Layne) following up to reinforce everything, it’s just really nice to have those pieces.”
The Hilltoppers had a few of their own second half looks in front of the goal — Cathedral keeper Noah Henderson made some handy saves — but other times the Crusader defense had to boot some emergency clearances after the senior came off his line on a dangerous Marshall possession. Henderson said Marshall is familiar with Cathedral and knew how to work out of the backfield against the Crusader scheme.
Hess said he has seen better play from his defense this year, but commended their effort in tough conditions.
“Give the guys credit,” he said of the team overall. “They take care of business with whoever is in front of them.”
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
