Dome Days

The Spartan season ended at the Metrodome this week. They made it to the dome as one of the top 4 Single A boys soccer teams in the state.

On Monday the boys took the field against the second-seeded Scarlet Knights of Benilde-St. Margarets in front of hundreds of Spartan fans who made the trip to the dome along with teachers and parents to cheer on the guys in what was bound to be a dogfight from the very beginning.The Spartans and the Knights had been ranked as two of the top three teams in state all season and had constantly been compared to each other but it was not until the State semi final game that they finally met up. The game started off greatly, each ball was contested by both sides and both teams were laying their bodies on the line for a shot at the championship game. Both squads responded to each other with exceptionally organized attacks. Ikey "the baby faced assassin" Forsgren lived up to his name and with incredible guts combined with exceptional 1 on 1 man marking skills was able to make Mr. Soccer almost irrelevant. Great work from the Spartan defense and goalkeeper Ben "Beast" Braman provided the boys with the necessary fuel to counter attack, but the Spartans were having difficulty in penetrating the back line of the big Knights defense. However it was not long before senior captain Gabe "G-Unit" Brennaman shredded the defense with his blistering pace down the wing, cut into the box and blasted a shot that hit off of the cross bar. This provided the Spartans with the necessary momentum to finish the half on the attacking side of the pitch. Unfortunately though they were not able to find the back of the net and the half ended 0-0.

The second half began with the same high pace with which the first one ended, except this time the Knights were attacking much more, keeping the ball in the Spartans half of the field. Within the first ten minutes, the heavy pressure game finally paid off for Benilde when one of their strikers shots from outside of the box deflected into the back of the net. 1-0 Benilde. And just like that, with an incredible dosage of bad luck, the Spartans found themselves trailing.

The Spartans began yet another attempt at coming back. The Spartans tried to build up their attacks by maintaining possession and having patience but due to great defensive play by the Knights the patience was lost quickly. The boys began to rush things and never had solid possession, this led to the Knights having a few more chances go just wide of the goal or into the Beasts hands. No matter how hard they tried with determined runs from Sam "Bulldog" Forsgren and Josh "Slim Shady" Gray, they were not able to have the chances on goal that they needed. Then a deflected Spartan shot in the box that was cleared off the line after a lot of confusion provided the Spartans with that extra spark but it simply was not their day. The match ended 1-0 and the Spartans were eliminated from the State Tournament.

Luck on this day was not on our side. The long season however would provide the boys with one more opportunity for glory. They would play the Rochester Lourdes Eagles in the third place final on Tuesday morning. The game saw two tired and worn out teams battle for one lat slice of pride in what would be both of their last games of the season. The Spartans, demoralized from a very tough loss, came out flat and conceded two goals fairly early on. In the second half the Spartans finally received the wake up call and turned on the jets, they were a able to draw a goal back with a marvelous strike by the G-Unit but unfortunately it was too little too late. The Spartans lost 2-1. The season ended at the Metrodome with the boys receiving their fourth place trophy.

These final two games however are not what this season should be remembered by. This season was an incredibly successful season which saw the Spartans accomplish a lot. The season began with the Spartans having to partially rebuild their team after having graduated 11 players, three which went on to play collegiate ball. The Spartans saw seven new starters in the lineup but they quickly formed their own team which was not afraid to be compared to the highly successful squad of the year prior. The 2011 Spartans prided themselves on toughness, a mentality that took them very far this year. The team had two All-State players and an All-State Honorable Mention player lead the way. The boys were able to surpass all expectations of them. They were able to go undefeated in Single A play during the regular season, win a conference championship,a section championship and reach the semi finals of the state tournament. The Spartans simply never gave up, things weren't over until they said they were.

I am honored to have been a member of this team, I would not have had it any other way.

A big thanks to all the fans and parents that came out to support the team this year, it meant a lot, you are huge part of our success.

I hope you have enjoyed the Blog posts about soccer games, I have been dreading this for a while, but this is the last post about the soccer team that I will do. The blog will be back for the winter sports season, highlighting hockey and basketball.

RIP 2011 Boys Varsity Soccer. It was a pleasure to be a part of this truly special group of guys.