It was a surprising opponent in a surprising location for the Park Wolfpack, who likely expected to be playing at second-seeded Eagan in the 2023 Section 3AAA boys soccer semifinals.
Instead, …
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It was a surprising opponent in a surprising location for the Park Wolfpack, who likely expected to be playing at second-seeded Eagan in the 2023 Section 3AAA boys soccer semifinals.
Instead, Park (10-7) advanced to the section championship and a match at top-seeded Rosemount (13-2-2) on Tuesday, Oct. 17 with an emotional 2-1 win over the visiting Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars.
“It was an exciting one for sure,” said Park head coach Andrew Bourgoine. “First half we were really good, we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. And pretty much Jefferson’s plan was to block every shot that they could and just hang on and then they got the one goal. Everyone surprised us a little bit. They played well too, it’s just that last 18 minutes we had to fight super hard to earn that victory and they did. The boys showed that they don’t want to go home yet and they’re ready to keep going.”
It was a win the Wolfpack will long remember.
It was also a wet and wild Thursday night matchup. Neither team scored in the first half. Park was down early in the second half. The game was tied at 1-all late in the half when senior Brayden Kortus broke free and punched in what turned out to be the game-winning goal with exactly 10 minutes to play.
“We put everyone in the box, it was 1-1 at the time so we needed a goal, there was like 15 minutes left and ultimately Brayden Kortus just beat the guy, jumped over him, and got his head on it,” said Park senior midfielder Noah Haupt. “That’s what we needed.
“I feel really good,” Haupt added. “We played really good as a team. We fought really well and I feel like the chemistry is there and we’re playing really well together.”
Jefferson tried mightily to score the equalizer in the final minutes and the Jaguars came heart-stoppingly close when a hard shot hit the top crossbar of the Park goal. But in the end, it was the Wolfpack who prevailed and advanced.
“We worked hard; we were down late in the game, but we just showed who we really are and we came back,” said Park senior Riley Lindgren. “Overall, we just stuck to the team that we were and we played the ball outside and played it in and scored.”
Rosemount knocked out fourth-seeded Apple Valley 4-0 in the other section semifinal.
Haupt scored the first Park goal. Tristan Lee and Haupt tallied assists.
Joe Cison earned the win in goal for the Wolfpack. All of the Park faithful held their breaths as a late Jefferson shot sailed up and hit the top crossbar.
“I don’t know what to think,” said Cison when asked what his thoughts were on that Jefferson attempt. “I just got to react as quick as possible and try to make the save. We preserved throughout the whole season.”
An unseeded Bloomington Jefferson team upset second-seeded Eagan 2-1 in the first round to set up an unlikely semifinal. The Jaguars came into Thursday’s game with just a 4-12-1 record and finished last in the Metro West but had won three straight coming into Thursday’s contest. They gave Park everything the Wolfpack could handle for most of the game Thursday.
Park defeated Jefferson 2-0 in the season opener this fall, but this game obviously had much higher stakes for both teams.
With 10 wins on the season, Park has made a dramatic improvement from last season when the Wolfpack went just 4-10-2.
“After last season a lot of kids went and played for a top club,” said Bourgoine. “They actually went in the weight room, they got better. They kept playing outside in their back yard. They wanted to improve, they wanted to have a great senior season and they knew this team could be good if everyone came together.”
Earlier in the week, third-seeded Park outscored visiting sixth-seeded Hastings 5-1 in Tuesday’s first-round section action to advance to the quarterfinals. Ayub Mohamed scored two goals and had one assist to lead Park past the Wildcats. Joey Runion, Haupt and Isaac Lor had a goal each for Park. Cison got the victory in goal.
In other first-round action, top-seeded Rosemount dropped eighth-seeded Burnsville 3-0 and fourth-seeded Apple Valley edged neighbor Eastview 2-0.
