FOREST LAKE — The Grand Rapids girls soccer team “fought with everything that they had” but lost to top-seed Mahtomedi 3-0 in the Class 2A quarterfinals in Forest Lake on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
“They were proud of themselves,” Head Coach Brooke Moses said in an interview Wednesday morning. “They were obviously upset their season ends, but we tried to just tell them, ‘This is ending on such a high note. We belong in the state tournament.’”
The Thunderhawks drew a tough matchup in the first round of the state tournament. Mahtomedi is the top-ranked 2A team, one of the most dominant programs in the state and is chasing a repeat championship.
“We knew this was going to be a high-caliber game, and we had to play a different style of game,” Moses said.
She credited goalie coach Chris Walker for coming up with a new defensive strategy to counter the Zephyrs.
The final score doesn’t accurately reflect the effectiveness of that change, she said. The game was tied 0-0 at the half.
“We played a very defensive formation just strictly to kind of frustrate them, kind of absorb pressure from them and get the ball out in our defensive end,” Moses said. “ ... The girls played it so well. A 0-0 half playing the state champs from last year and a team that has 11 state titles, coming from a team who is going to state for the first time, was so exciting.”
Goalie Rylee Major had some great saves, she said, and Ava Limberg, Kylie DeBay and Quinn Cargill helped bring some offensive pressure.
She said the performance showed Rapids is a program “on the rise.”
This was the team’s first state appearance in school history, and the coaches emphasized cherishing that memory.
“This moment is never going to happen again. This is a moment you’re going to talk to your kids about, really. You’re going to keep this memory forever,” Moses said. “We just kept telling them to enjoy it, soak it all in.”
In the second half of the game, the wind and rain picked up, and the girls were tired.
“But it took them a long time to get a goal, and that felt really positive and really good for our program,” Moses said.
Back at the hotel, the coaches were already starting to run through formations for next year.
The team is losing nine seniors, including Major and DeBay, and some of those girls have been playing varsity for six years. But while the Thunderhawks may lose some experience, key players like Cargill, Addie Peterson, Limberg, Brooklyn Troumbly and Kate Carlson will return. They’ll be joined by rising players like Teagan Skorczewski and Liv Scott and a younger core.
“It’s going to take a little bit of time [next season] to feel a flow, but hopefully we can fill those gaps and be just as strong next year,” Moses said.
No. 4 Esko is the last Northland team in the girls soccer state tournament. Their first match is against No. 5 St. Croix Preparatory Academy on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in White Bear Lake.
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