Wednesday, October 14, 2020

SLP Boys Advance to Section 6AA Semifinals and SLP Girls Season Ends

 It was a windy Wednesday night in St. Louis Park as the high school stadium was the site for a couple of Section 6AA soccer quarterfinal games with the boys shutting out the Hopkins Royals 4-0 and the girls, playing on their home field as the visiting team lost to the top seeded Minneapolis Southwest Lakers 1-0.  

First up was the boys quarterfinal game where good things came in pairs for the St. Louis Park Orioles as Alex Ruiz-Shimada and Claudy Zua scored two goals apiece to lead them to a 4-0 victory over the Hopkins Royals.  

The Orioles would strike twice in the first half that started with Zua driving through the center slot and putting the ball past Royal goalkeeper Jonas Swan to put St. Louis Park ahead.  They would add their second goal 2:00 later when Bennett Kouame fed Ruiz-Shimada and he would tally to give the Orioles a 2-0 halftime lead.  

St. Louis Park doubled their first half output in the second half when Ruiz-Shimada put the Orioles ahead by three and Zua would clinch the quarterfinal win 5:00 later.  

The Orioles improved their record to 8-2-2 and advanced to the Section 6AA semifinals against the Minneapolis Washburn Millers on Tuesday, October 20.  Hopkins concluded their season with a 3-8-1 record.  

The top seeded team in the Section 6AA girls tournament the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers were the home team at the St. Louis Park stadium in order to let fans attend and they would go home happy when they saw Stella Thiebert score the game's only with 24:44 left in regulation time to lead Southwest to a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles.

Neither team would erase the zeros from the scoreboard in the first half.  Could the eighth seeded Orioles pull off the upset in the second half?  Not on their home field as Sophia Romero on a goal kick had it block by Thiebert and she would score the game's lone goal as the Southwest defense prevented St. Louis Park from sending the game into overtime.  

The Lakers improved their record to 10-1-1 and will face the Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders in the Section 6AA semifinals on Tuesday, October 20.  Nine of Southwest's ten wins came via shutout.  The Lakers in their season opener against Minnehaha Academy beat the Redhawks 5-2. 

The Orioles ended their season with a 1-9-2 record.  

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