Heartburn

Yesterday the Spartan guys traveled into the Southern suburbs to taken on Apple Valley. The Apple Valley Eagles have been a powerhouse in Minnesota High School soccer for a long time and are the Two Time Defending AA State Champions. The Eagles however had lost many key seniors and started the season off slow. They lost a couple of key games early on which dropped their ranking from 1st to out of the top 10. Our Spartans on the other hand were dominating their Class A competition going into this game on an 8 game winning streak and holding an exceptional 12-1 record with the only loss being to AA school Edina. The Spartans had lost to the Eagles each of the past three seasons and when interviewed before the game Senior Captain Nico "Swan" Olson Studler emphasized that "It's our turn to win against them. I am sick and tired of coming here and losing badly every year."

The team took Studler's message to heart it seemed like, with the boys playing a very good first fifteen minutes of soccer which saw some exceptional saves by Ben "Beast" Braman. Around twenty minutes into the half, Lorenzo "Cappucino" Pavoloni won the ball in the middle of the field with a hard tackle and dished it off to Sam "Bulldog" Forsgren who found Gabe "G-Unit Brennaman up front. The G-Unit was the Spartans' only man up front and had three defenders in front of him, he made a couple of fakes which forced two of the defenders to collide and then with great patience perfectly executed a weak footed strike into the bottom corner of the opposite side of the net. The Spartans were up 1-0, Brennaman had scored their first goal against Apple Valley in the past three years. The Spartan players and bench all exploded with joy as they felt this was going to be their day.

The Spartans continued their game with very few mistakes and were still clinging onto the lead with five minutes left in the first half. The next Apple Valley attack however saw the Eagles strike level after a ball hit off the bar and found its way into the back of the net a midst confusion in the box. The game seemed as if it would go into the half tied 1-1 but exactly one minute after their first goal Apple Valley worked another counter attack to go ahead into the break 2-1.

The second half saw the Spartans come out hungry, believing that they could tie the game up. There was constant back and forth action until the referee awarded the Eagles with a penalty were there was no clear foul at all. It seemed like it was all over for the Spartans, but Ben "Beast" Braman did not let anybody down and came through with a fabulous save. The wonder save shifted the momentum and the Spartans began to attack with a purpose, however they were still struggling to create chances when in front of the net. This led to another Eagle set piece that finished with an aerial goal. 3-1 Apple Valley.

The boys however did not give up and continued look for a goal that would change the game. They had a couple of chances with G-Unit and Lorenzo "Cappucino" Pavoloni, but were unlucky on both. With less than 10 minutes left Apple Valley was able to score yet another goal off a set piece to shut the door on the Spartans. The match ended 4-1. It was a very tough result for the Spartan guys to digest because of all the hard work and fight they put on. The score does not do justice to the game the Spartans played, however thats the cruelty of sports. Regardless of the score the Spartans showed yet again that they are able to compete with even the bigger schools. There is nothing to be ashamed of in losing to a team like that, even though I still hold to the belief, knowing that I am not the only one, that we could have beaten them if everything went right. Sadly this game also marked the end of the Bulldog's goal streak, as my good friend once said though "All good things have to come to an end." What isn't coming to an end for Forsgren however is leading the state in points and being undefeated in single A play this season.

Later that night it was the Girls' turn to put on a show. The lady Spartans travelled to Richfield to take on the Holy Angels Stars in a section preview game. Under the lights, on turf and in front of many of their own fans, the girls took to the field pumped to spoil the Stars' homecoming. This match also started off very high paced with constant back and forth action. The Spartans looked like the more in form side, forcing the Holy Angels goalkeeper to make a few miraculous saves. The Spartans continued their dominance throughout the half, but to everyones surprise it was the Stars that drew first blood, scoring midway through the half. The Spartans did not allow the shock to hit them too hard and made sure that the Stars knew they meant business. Less than a minute after the Stars goal, Junior Amanda Hotvedt equalized the game with a powerful strike from inside the box.

The first half continued with the same entertaining action and a few close calls for both sides. Once the buzzer sounded for halftime the score was 1-1.

The ladies went into the second half hungry to grab a well deserved lead and continued to play a very entertaining style. The Spartans began to dominate and were clearly the better team on the attack. They searched and searched for the goal that would bring them ahead, but could not seem to find it. About halfway through the second half when the game seemed like it was bound to be drawn, Nina Perkkio broke through the Stars defense and scored the goal that gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead. The girls continued their control of the possession and came close on a few more chances but were not able to finish. The clock began to tick heavily and at some points it seemed like this game would never end. WIth about 55 seconds to go, as the Spartan fans prepared to sing good bye, the Stars worked a counter attack to perfection and were able to tie the game 2-2. The Spartans however did everything they could to end the game then and there and orchestrated an attack that came very close. With just a few seconds left in regulation Senior Captain Jenna O'Brien was fouled on the edge of the box by a Holy Angels defender, but this did not catch the referee's attention and so the game went to overtime. Overtime saw both teams make one last ditch effort to win, but nothing that came extremely close and so the game ended 2-2. Once again, the score did not do the Spartans justice, they deserved much better than a 2-2. However they were able to keep their undefeated Single A streak alive. A good job by the ladies who deserved more than what they got, but as we saw in the boys game it could have ended even worse.

Both Spartan teams played very entertaining games on Saturday, however they were also very painful to play in and watch for me. It is hard to see results that do not end in your teams' favors after having seen both teams demolish most of the competition this season and even play well in these two games.

The season however is far from over. Both teams will face the Blake Bears on Tuesday and the Minnehaha Eagles on Thursday. The boys will try to lock up a number 1 seed for section playoffs and end the season in style. The girls will look to do much of the same against a Blake team that knocked them out in the section finals in each of the past few years. Can you say revenge?

Thanks to all the fans that came out to the games this weekend, we would all appreciate the support in this final week of the regular season as well. The sporting week however will end with the game to watch, Blake vs SPA Football version. The game marks 100 years of Blake vs SPA football games and there is sure to be a great atmosphere in store.

On another note I have a special announcement to make, this post marks the one month anniversary of the blog. I hope you are enjoying it and hope you will continue reading as the sports year goes on. Thank You.