A set of Class 3A girls soccer state tournament semifinals Tuesday at U.S. Bank Stadium set up a Friday final as good as it can be: top seed Edina vs. second seed Wayzata.
It gets better. Edina is undefeated, 21-0-0. Wayzata is 20-1-0, and the loss was to Edina. They’ll play for the championship at 10:15 a.m. Friday,
A look at Tuesday’s semifinals:
Wayzata 5, Maple Grove 1
The Trojans bunched together goals to pull away from the Crimson and win 5-1. Wayzata got goals from four different players and had two other players on the scoresheet with assists.
Tenley Senden led the way with two goals and an assist. Grace Estby added a goal and an assist.
“One of our strengths all year has been creating opportunities,” Trojans coach Tony Peszneker said. “We scored five today, but we created a few more as well.”
The Trojans took a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals 1:07 apart. Senden scored 5:09 into the game by sneaking a shot between the legs of a Crimson defender off a rebound from a shot by Davy Mokelke. Estby extended the lead with a deflection off her head past Crimson goalkeeper Diana Park on a shot from Avery Olmstead.
“Starting off with a goal was really helpful,” Senden said. “It brought up our team’s intensity and really helped to push us to keep going and get more goals.”
The Crimson (9-7-4) got back into the game with 6:48 left in the first half on a goal by Anya Gerlach. She got the last hit on a ball that pinballed off several heads before going into the net.
Senden scored her second goal of the game with 36:07 left in the first half. Estby picked up an assist on the play.
The Trojans put the game away in the second half with a pair of goals 5:01 apart. Sarah Hyde redirected a pass from Senden into the net 4:33 into the second half. Mokelke extended the lead to 5-1 with 31:26 left in the game when she made a run up the field and beat Park with a shot just inside the far post. Addie Millo picked up the assist on Mokelke’s goal.
“[The field] felt bigger to me. That’s good for me because I like to use all the width,” Mokelke said. “I got a lot of good build-up [passes] from my midfielders and even my defenders. I got a lot of chances, and I was able to [create] a lot of good chances for my teammates, also.”
Edina 3, Andover 0
The top-seeded Hornets got a big lift from Metro Player of the Year Izzy Engle.
Engle has the ability to score in a variety of ways and put them on display with two goals, a pair of near-misses and a role in the third Hornets goal in a 3-0 victory over Andover.
“My teammates set me up so well. I wouldn’t be getting anything I am without them,” Engle said. “Anyone on this team could be scoring like I am. It’s a credit to our depth. I just have a blast, and I know [my teammates] do, too. This team, there are so many ways we can score.”
Engle started the scoring by chipping a ball over Huskies goalkeeper Haley Mau 4:52 into the game. Engle intercepted a pass and scored when Mau came out aggressively to defend her.
“[Mau] is super aggressive,” Engle said. “I knew that she was coming out. … I didn’t see how close she was. Luckily, she was far enough away that I was able to chip it over her.”
Engle extended the Hornets’ lead to 2-0 by dribbling through three defenders before going around Mau and scoring from a wide angle with 3:38 left in the first half.
Between the goals, Engle took two long shots that went just over the crossbar.
On the Hornets’ third goal, Engle sent a corner kick across the box to Grace Pohlidal. Pohlidal’s header went back across the box to Disha Roy for a tap-in.
“I wasn’t even aiming for the net,” Pohlidal said. “I was just trying to get it back into the play. It was nice of [Roy] to guide it in because there were [defenders] behind her. I don’t think it would have gone in on its own.”
The Huskies (12-5-2) had a shot go just wide of the post on Hornets goalkeeper Eleni McGuire’s left in the second half.