This was not the season anyone expected to have. The COVID mess, a regular season with two wins, a game postponed due to snow, who could have predicted this season? We know the answer to that, no one, especially not first year head coach Andrew Bourgoine. “The guys came together at the right time and finally started playing the way I knew all along they could play,” Bourgoine said after the very first game The Journal covered. It was their final regular season game, they won 6-1 over Irondale. He was right, the guys figured it out. They became a team. Their first section game they defeated the number one seeded East Ridge as the eight seed. Yeah, upsets happen now and then, but then the eight seed shows why they were the eight seed in the next game. Not this eighth seed, not this year.

Park would be scheduled to play White Bear Lake on Tuesday night, and that’s when things got weird. Six to ten inches of snow would fall around the metro and cause the games to be delayed until Wednesday night. Park AD Phil Kuemmel sparked the conversation with fellow AD Brian Peloquin, the AD for host White Bear Lake South, “These guys did a phenomenal job getting the facility ready for tonight,” Kuemmel said.

Peloquin then explained how they were able to clear the pitch and stadium, “We have a plow that we purchased through the same company that our turf is made by so that keeps the warranty, it’s guaranteed to not snag or rip the turf. Our guys were out here at 8:00 a.m. this morning. They stayed late after a long night of plowing to clear the field. That was the easy part. The hard part was trying to shovel out the bleachers without dying,” he chuckled.

The grounds crew took care of the pitch but who cleared the bleachers? Two people. “You’re looking at the team,” Peloquin said as he pointed at himself and the Associate AD Matt St. Martin. “We got out here about noon and finished up about 4:00.”

Would all that work be worth it for two soccer games? We are not sure how the 7:00 p.m. ladies game finished after the Park versus White Bear Lake (WBL) game did, but we can tell you this. Park versus White Bear Lake was an exciting game to watch and certainly worth the work put in by Peloquin and his staff. A huge tip of the hat is given to them for the hard work. Thanks Brian and crew! The work did not go unnoticed!

On to the game!

The game between WBL and Park was one that was back and forth all night. Insert all the jokes you want about soccer and the lack of offense or scoring here, but it was an exciting night with a plethora of scoring chances. The goalies on both sides were absolute rock stars. Jakob Leonard for Park was on fire all night. It seemed as though nothing would get by him.

Before the start of the second half, Head Coach Andrew Bourgoine stopped to chat.

“We were struggling early, WBL was taking it to us first half but we adjusted with great play by our CB Isaiah Stokes. He really was going all out and that really pushed the team to follow his lead,” Bourgoine said.

Stokes was the fuel that kept the rest of the boys going. He was all over the pitch, barking out directions, lifting guys up, and encouraging his teammates. He did not let the nil-nil tie get to him or his fellow players.

Unfortunately, he would end up with a minor injury later in the night that sidelined him the rest of the game.

The second half Park became the aggressor, keeping the ball on the WBL end of the pitch more.

Even with the added push, 80 minutes of regulation would expire, and the game would head to overtime.

The first 10-minute overtime period was a mirror of regulation. Multiple scoring chances for both teams and goalies that were brick walls. The second 10-minute overtime was a bit slower as it was clear the cold weather and long game were wearing down both teams. After 100 minutes of play, the game remained nil – nil.

Shootout time!

Penalty kick shootouts in soccer seem to take forever, but there is more going on than just kicking the ball at the net from a set point, so stretching it out a little makes sense. Shootouts are pretty structured. First, the referees meet with team captains to decide which end of the pitch the shootout will take place in, then a coin flip determines who shoots first. Teams then alternate shooting and changing goalies. The goalie can only move side to side in the net, no forward movement is allowed. The ball is placed at the penalty kick spot located at the front of the penalty box. Each team chooses five shooters. It now becomes a best of five shootout. Once a team scores enough points where the trailing team cannot catch them, the shootout ends.

Parks lineup for the shootout was Hayden Boich, Jakob Leonard, Josh Gutzman, Michael Schult and Nick Lemire.

WBL would shoot first. Leonard made a diving save to the right. WBL nil.

Park’s Boich would shoot and the save was made by WBL. WBL nil, Park nil.

WBL’s second shot was also stopped by Leonard. WBL nil, Park nil.

Now came the surprise. No one noticed that Park only had four shooters at centerfield and WBL had five. Senior captain and keeper, Jakob Leonard stepped out of the net to the penalty kick spot. “He wanted to shoot,” said Bourgoine after the game, “I told him, ‘you’re a senior and a captain, I’m not going to tell you no.’ he was shooting before the game and making them. He’s a great athlete, so I let him shoot.”

Leonard set his feet and took his shot. It went wide left. It looked as though he was headed back to his keeper spot when the referee told him to go back to the penalty kick spot. It turns out, the WBL keeper moved forward just before the kick, so Leonard would get a second chance. And he made this one count. Boom! He buried it in the upper right of the goal. WBL nil, Park one.

The third WBL player would score, WBL one, Park one, but Park had the upper hand at this point.

Up next for Park was Gutzman. Gutzman also put it in the back of the net. WBL one, Park two with two shooters remaining for each team.

The next WBL shooter stepped up and Leonard made his already tall frame that much bigger by making yet another stop. WBL one, Park two.

Schult was the fourth shooter for the Wolfpack. Could he end it here? Schult stepped up, did a little fake with his feet and SCORES! Park wins the shootout 3-1 and advanced to the section finals!

After the game, we caught up with Senior Keeper Jakob Leonard, the hero of the game. “The guys just played so great in front of me all night. They fought hard and didn’t give up, it was a huge team win,” an exhausted Leonard said.

“I told coach that I wanted a shot. I felt I could beat him and help the team win. I’m just glad it went in, glad I had the second chance,” Leonard said. Us too Jakob, us too.

On to Stillwater.

With the goofy Minnesota weather, and Tuesday’s game being pushed to Wednesday, that meant Thursdays section final was also going to have to be moved to Saturday afternoon. 2:00 in Stillwater. It was another cold day for the boys to play. Park had played Stillwater once this year so Coach Bourgoine knew it was going to be a challenge to win at Stillwater. “Stillwater is a great team and I think they have won like seven straight. They beat us 2-1 like three weeks ago so I think we have a tall task ahead of us but I know this team is up for the challenge and they are ready. Keys to beating Stillwater is playing great team defense and also high pressure them and we can maybe pull off 3rd upset in a row to win the section,” Bourgoine said.

It was a challenging game for the Wolfpack. On top of the skill that Stillwater has, Park would be dealt a shocking blow on Friday. During the semi-final round, starting keeper Jakob Leonard broke his thumb. He knew something was wrong, but it didn’t bother him all that much, so he kept practicing and playing. He actually played the entire WBL game with a broken thumb. Friday, he and his family decided to have the thumb looked at and taped up for protection by a trainer. That’s when the trainer told them there was no way Leonard would be cleared to play with the injury. The family scrambled to get Jakob looked at and to get him the proper protection for the thumb, and they did, so he was cleared to play. There was one major problem. He had to have a cast to protect the thumb. With the cast on, he was unable to catch anything that came his way. His thumb was protected, but that left the goal unprotected. He had to make one of the hardest decisions of his soccer career. He had to sit out his final game, not just any final game, but the section championship. He did just that and he passed the ball to fellow senior keeper Max Neitz. The hot keeper on the sidelines, cold weather and underdogs. Sounds like another day for Wolfpack soccer’s 2020 season.

The Ponies are a fast team, and they kept the pressure on Park most of the first half. With the score tied at nil, Stillwater would make a move to the net with a pretty pass to the left of Neitz. Neitz had been a mirror image of Leonard all game, another brick wall, stopping everything that came at him. Until a few minutes before the half. Stillwater would score on a controversial play. It appeared the Stillwater player was offsides on the pass that gave him the shot. The issue was Park had stopped playing, assuming it was offsides, a costly mistake. Offsides was never called, the whistle was never blown, and the goal counted. Had the boys kept playing, that goal may have never made it in.

The second half was another hard fought 40-minutes of soccer. Plenty of scoring chances for both teams and Neitz was amazing in net. He was the reason Park was in the game the whole day. Unfortunately, time would expire on the Cinderella story and Park would fall, 1-0.

After the game, Coach Bourgoine was disappointed, but proud. “I’m just so proud of these guys, they never quit. They really rallied together, just a joy to have these guys,” Bourgoine said.

He then explained the dynamic between Neitz and Leonard.

“They’ve been best friends growing up, we are lucky to have two great keepers on this team,” said Bourgoine.

Park will graduate 15 seniors out of 21 varsity players this year. Thanks for taking us along for the ride gentlemen and we wish you all the best!

#6 Isaiah Stokes watches the results of his pass after he cleared the ball out of the Park half of the pitch on Wednesday night. Photo by Bruce Karnick