Section Quarterfinals

It's that time of the year again, the time were if you don't win you go home, playoff time. Today the playoff journeys of both our Spartan soccer teams commenced.The boys played against the Minneapolis Roosevelt Teddies after having had a first round bye while the girls played host to Trinity High School after their bye. The boys played their game at Highland Park Stadium while the girls played on Historic Lang Field.

The guys were more than ready to play after a full weeks rest from games, but their opponent, the Teddies, were on a high after having upset the 8th seeded Blake Bears in the first round 3-1. The start of the section tournament also saw the calling up from the JV squad of 3 new players, freshaman Tyler "Seppi" Seplak, sophomore Emoon "the Immunization" Solomon and junior Sam "Curly" Wood (the cousin of Peter "Woody Allen" Wood).

The game began with the Teddies in clear control of posession, winning all the battles in the midfield and having a few chances which forced keeper Matty "ICE" Fiedler to make exceptional saves. The Roosevelt defense continued to draw the Spartan forwards offsides with its offside trap, it seemed like nothing was going right for our boys. It was not until around 20 minutes into the half that the Spartans finally broke the ice. On a counter attack, Lorenzo "Cappuccino" Pavoloni was able to make the best of the Roosvelt goalkeeper's awful mistake and find the back of the net to bring the Spartans up 1-0. Once again, Cappuccino found himself in the right place at the right time and with his sweet aroma was able to bring energy to the Spartans. However there was not enough energy because shortly afterwards the Teddies equalized the game on another counter attack. On the play Matty "ICE" Fiedler collided with a Roosevelt player and was kicked in the face. Recent updates have told me that Fiedler has a broken nose, no concussion but that they are still deciding whether or not surgery will be necessary. In for the Iceman stepped Ben "Beast" Braman.

The Teddies were now back in the game and attacking a lot more. The Spartans needed to gain control again and start playing with their usual intensity before it would be too late. The boys began to run speedy attacks that created some much needed chances. Then a few minutes later on a perfectly excuted play, senior co-captain Nico "Swan" Olson-Studler was able to head a ball into space for Sam "Bulldog" Forsgren who with a wonderful strike gave the Spartans the lead on a wonderful low ball. 2-1 Spartans. The boys kept up their pressure and it paid off with senior co-captain Gabe "G-Unit" Brennaman scoring to bring the guys up 3-1. They now had a fairly commanding lead and the floodgates had finally opened, before the end of the half, Sam "Bulldog" Forsgren netted his second on the day to bring the Spartans up 4-1. The Spartans had finally began imposing their style of play on the game and it paid off greatly, the momentum had shifted completely.

The boys came out of the half looking much like they did at the beginning of the game and consequently conceded a goal shortly after the beginning of the to have their lead cut to just two. However the boys did not panic like many teams would have in a situation such as this one and began to set the tempo. As the Roosevelt players began to get more and more frustrated and continously fouled the Spartans, our boys kept their composure and made sure the only thing on their minds was winning the game. The Bulldog netted two more goals to give the Spartans a 6-2 lead and a ticket to the section Semi-Final game. With less than 1 minute left, Peter "Woody Allen" Wood hurt his knee on a excesivelly rough and ill-disciplined challenge by a frustrated Roosevelt defender. But in the spirit of a great Spartan, Woody Allen was able to tough it out cheer his boys on for the rest of the game. The match marked a great performance by Josh "Slim Shady" Gray in his third game back from injury, he had three assists. The Spartans continued their unbeaten streak in Single A play and will be playing again on Saturday in the semi-final game. Also a big thanks goes out to all the fans that made the treacherous journey all the way to Highland Park High School to support the boys, you always play a big role in our victories. Our thoughts are with both the Iceman and Woody Allen after this game.

The second seeded girl Spartans played host to Trinity on Historic Lang Field. The girls had already beaten Trinity 3-1 earlier in the season and were looking to go to the semi-final game for the fourth straight year.Unfortunately I could not be in two places at once, but word reached me that the girls dominated the match and the final scoreline was a clear reflection of this, 5-0.

On Saturday afternoon there will be two semi-final games taking place on Historic Lang Field. The girls will be taking on Holy Angels in a game that was played two weeks ago and ended in a 2-2 draw after overtime, the Spartans will be looking to play spoiler this time however. That game will be sure to receive a much better mention in the blog than this one because I will be able to attend both, you should also attend the games if you are reading this, simply because it could turn out to be one of the greatest Saturday afternoons of your life. The boys will be having a rematch against St. Thomas Academy who they beat 4-3 in the third week of the season in one of the best games all year. The Spartans will both have to come out with their best games against two hungry opponents, after all it is win or go home. Go Spartans!