High Schools
Eagan senior midfielder Jake Sondag scores the game-winning goal off a rebound against Washburn in double overtime to send Eagan to its first ever title match.
By Cassidy Hettesheimer,
David La Vaque and
Joseph Gunther
It took until the very end, but Eagan got it done.
With four minutes remaining in double overtime of the Class 3A boys soccer state semifinals Wednesday, senior forward Jake Sondag scored the golden goal, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 victory over Minneapolis Washburn at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Eagan, the fourth seed in the state tournament, became the first team to beat undefeated top seed Washburn this year.
Returning to state for the first time since 2015, the win books the Wildcats (19-1-1) their first-ever spot in Friday’s state championship. They will face Maple Grove at 8 a.m. Friday in the 3A state championship.
“It’s been our dream senior season,” Eagan senior midfielder Syon Thapa said. “Every kid, when they think about their high school soccer career, [it’s] getting to the Bank, playing in the championship.”
Ninety minutes of scoreless stalemate — thanks to both teams’ strong goalkeeping performances — nearly broke when, five minutes into overtime, Washburn senior forward Julian Brower-Snelson and freshman forward Lucas Neu hit two shots off the right goal post only seconds apart.
“The last 15 minutes, it felt to me we were kind of wearing them down a little bit,” Washburn head coach Aaron Percy said. “We just couldn’t find one when we had those opportunities.”
Minutes later, the ball would roll in Eagan’s favor, literally. Sondag drove down the right sideline and slotted a pass into All-State junior midfielder Eric Noll. Washburn keeper Henry Johnson saved Noll’s shot, but Sondag crashed into a crowded box and knocked in the rebound, which slowly rolled over the goal line.
“It’s something I’ve been taught as a striker … always go toward the keeper,” said Sondag, in just his second year playing the position. “You never know if there’s going to be a rebound.”
Crashing the keeper is something the team has emphasized more this year, Eagan senior midfielder and 3A Mr. Soccer finalist Blake Prouty said. “Our production has gone way up,” Prouty said.
Eagan had the offensive edge over Washburn in the first half, with sophomore forward Zayan Oliyath dribbling up the left and right flanks to serve balls into the box for the Wildcats. Washburn’s defense, led by All-State defender Ryan Josephson, dealt with the pressure, preventing any point-blank shots on Johnson.
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That was less the case in the second half, as both goalkeepers were called on to make big saves. With 27 minutes left, a bending shot from Oliyath forced a diving save from Johnson.
Washburn returned the favor to Eagan goalkeeper Zachary Roxas with 15 minutes left, as Roxas parried away a long-range shot. He made a close-range stop on Neu less than five minutes later, though the play was eventually ruled offside.
With less than a minute left in regulation, Prouty had a chance to score for the Wildcats, but Johnson again made the save for the Millers.
The Millers’ (15-1-3) loss ends a strong season that saw Washburn return to state for the first time since 2019 and earn its fifth Mr. Soccer honor in the past decade, to senior midfielder Ronan Selbo.
Most of Eagan’s roster dyed their hair in preparation of Wednesday’s game. Senior defender Asher Brunette was one of the lone holdouts, insisting after the game he’d already buzzed his head once before the season.
“We’ll get him to do it,” said Prouty, as their assistant coaches had promised they would dye theirs, too, with a Wildcats semifinal win.
In September, Maple Grove and Andover battled to a scoreless regular-season draw. It was the only game that the Crimson walked away from without a win.
Not this time.
In Wednesday’s Class 3A boys soccer state semifinals, No. 2 seed Maple Grove beat Andover, 3-1, to complete the matchup for Friday’s state championship. It’s Maple Grove’s second consecutive trip to the state title game after finishing runner-up to Wayzata last year.
“We have a lot of seniors who can lead the younger guys. We can tell them what it’s like,” said Maple Grove senior midfielder Ike Dueul. “But it’s not the same until you actually step onto the field.”
Coming out of halftime tied 1-1, Deuel and sophomore Parker Carlson scored two second-half goals to put the Crimson (18-0-1) ahead.
With 19 minutes remaining, Deuel, Maple Grove’s playmaker, curled a low, clinical shot into the bottom right corner of the net, past the outstretched dive of Andover keeper Christian Guenther to put the Crimson ahead, 2-1.
“What was going through a few of our minds was how are we going to find a way to create a chance, because we can’t just keep (the ball),” Deuel said. “I trusted myself, and it just happened to bounce in. I think it was more just having a team around me to calm me down.”
While Andover (11-4-3) pressed for its equalizer, Crimson junior Everett Johnston tucked a pass into the box for Carlson, who put Maple Grove ahead by two with nine minutes left in the game.
Andover had its own share of second-half chances hoping to equalize, hitting one off the post with six minutes remaining and forcing Maple Grove goalkeeper Zander Waldrum into two diving saves to his right.
Dueul also delivered the corner kick that opened the scoring seven minutes into the game for Maple Grove. He hit an in-swinging corner to sophomore midfielder Carter Mast on the back post, and Mast tapped the ball to senior forward Gannon Farrens, whose shot slipped through the crowded goalmouth for his 10th goal of the year.
“It’s always nice to get one early, especially in an environment like this,” Farrens said. “The Bank is always super fun to play at, but it can get you a little jittery sometimes. (To score early) is a big confidence booster.”
The Crimson had more corners, shots and chances in their favor through the first half hour, but an Andover backline in front of Guenther weathered the storm until the Huskies got a break of their own.
A half-hour in, Andover senior forward Caden Hanson got around high-stepping Waldrum and finished a low shot into the net to tie the game, 1-1.
In their third consecutive trip to the Bank, experience in high-pressure games helped the Crimson regroup and not let the equalizer derail their game plan.
“Pregame, some of the captains and some of the returners looked at each other like, ‘Well, the stadium looks a lot smaller than last time, right?’” Maple Grove senior defender Frank Miller said. “It helps coming in here with cool heads.”
Holy Angels bookended its boys soccer season with victories against Orono. The first meeting provided the Stars with their inaugural victory of the season while the second — and most important meeting — came Wednesday in the Class 2A state tournament semifinals.
That’s where No. 1 seed Holy Angels posted a 2-0 victory against No. 4 seed Orono.
Logan Ciresi put Holy Angels (19-1) ahead 1-0 at halftime on his goal in the 37th minute. The senior attacker ranks second on the Stars with 13 goals this season.
“It was awesome to get that goal to go into halftime playing with a lead,” Ciresi said. The goal was his ninth of the season using his left foot, drawing him closer to his individual goal of 10 goals from his less dominant side.
The Stars bumped their lead to 2-0 on a goal in the 51st minute from junior midfielder William Ferrufino, his fourth of the season.
The Stars advance to the 2A state tournament championship game against No. 2 seed Totino-Grace at 12:30 p.m. Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Holy Angels defeated Orono (12-5-2) on Aug. 27 in the Spartans’ season opener, 2-1.
“We generated chances,” Orono coach Grant Steine said. “I think the coaching staff over there, if you ask them, we weren’t a team they necessarily wanted to play.”
Less turned out to be enough as No. 2 seed Totino-Grace needed just two goals to defeat No. 3 seed Blake, 2-0, in Wednesday’s second Class 2A boys soccer semifinal.
Junior attacker Siman Gelato gave Totino-Grace (14-3-3) a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute — his sixth goal this season.
“To earn a shutout against Blake, we’re certainly proud of that,” Eagles coach Bill Vance said. “I spoke to coach Tamba [Johnson, of Blake] a second ago about the difference in finishing chances.”
Senior goalkeeper Everett Schutta took it from there. Early in the second half, Schutta emerged from the net and threw himself in the path of an oncoming forward to deny a Bears’ shot.
“That was a game-changing save,” Vance said.
In the 78th minute, junior attacker Truett Dollins buried an indirect free kick for the winning 2-0 margin.
“They were getting a lot of chances, but I felt like when we scored, we were going to win,” Dollins said.
St. Paul Academy outlasted Pine Islander/Zumbrota-Mazeppa in penalty kicks in the Class 1A semifinal.
The Spartans are looking for a three-peat after getting the 1-0 win over the Wildcats.
The Spartans outscored the Wildcats 4-3 in penalty kicks. Arlo Zirps fired a shot high and to the left of Wildcats goalkeeper Lucas Sems to give the Spartans lead in the fifth round of penalty kicks.
Erik Bjorgvinsson, Rowan McLean and Andrew Sullivan scored in the first three shots for the Spartans. Anders Hellyer, Sven Oberg and Zachary Breitenstein answered the first three shots for the Wildcats.
After Ezra Straub missed the net for the Spartans, the Wildcats had an opportunity to the lead, but Sems and Kirt Rude missed the net on their shots, sending the Spartans through to the championship game.
The Spartans (16-3-1) controlled the second half, but could not get anything into the net. They had the Wildcats on their heels most of the half. The Wildcats (15-3-2) regrouped during the intermission and got a few scoring chances of their own.
Blake Moynagh scored two goals to lead Rochester Lourdes to a 4-3 win over previously unbeaten St. Cloud Cathedral in the other semifinal round of Class 1A.
The Eagles (17-3-1) scored three goals in a 4 minute, 57 second span in the first half to put the Crusaders on their heels. The Crusaders had not allowed more than two goals in a game all season.
Moynagh scored his two goals 2:33 apart at the back end of the early scoring spree. Samuel Theobald got the scoring started for the Eagles 7:42 into the game.
The Crusaders (20-1) lost goalkeeper Noah Henderson with 21:21 left in the first half due to an injury and penalty for taking out an Eagles attacker in the box. Aidan Kane took the penalty kick and extended the Eagles lead to 4-0 with a shot past diving backup goalkeeper Gabriel Vaske. Vaske made some big saves for the Crusaders to the game from getting really out of hand.
Griffin Sturm got the Crusaders on the board with 8:12 left in the first half. Matthew Primus and Jacob Oliver scored in the second half to make the game interest, but the Eagles survived the rally.
Cassidy Hettesheimer is preps sports reporter at The Star Tribune.
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.
Watch the best moments from Wednesday’s matchups from U.S. Bank Stadium in this exclusive video produced by NSPN.tv.
Watch the best moments from matchups on Oct. 29 in this exclusive video produced by NSPN.tv.
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