SLP Orioles Split With Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars

 Like a Schoolhouse Rock song from the early 1970s, three was a magic number Tuesday as the St. Louis Park girls soccer team was shutout by the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars 3-0 and the boys blanked the Jaguars by the same score.  

First up was the girls game as McKenna Long scored a goal and an assist to lead the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars to a 3-0 shutout of the host St. Louis Park Orioles.  

The Jaguars scored the lone goal of the first half when Sarah Totten fed Long in the center slot and she put Jefferson ahead.  

Long would help set up the Jaguars first goal in the second half on a pass to Becca Brendalen and she would score from the left side.  They would score their final goal on a throw in that deflected off of Ayah Makled and rolled into the net.  

Jefferson won their third straight game and improved their record to 6-1-1.  They will travel to New Prague on Thursday, September 15 for a 5 PM game with the Trojans.  

The Orioles fell to 1-5-1 and will also return to action on the 15th, hosting the Benilde-St. Maragret's Red Knights at 5 PM.  

On to the boys game as the St. Louis Park Orioles used a three goal second half to shout out the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars 3\-0.  

Neither team erased the zeros from their end of the scoreboard in the first half as both teams played solid defense.  

The Orioles would erase the deadlock in the second half when Tyler Puentes kick was fielded by Elijah Puchner and he sent the ball to the net.  They would go up by two on Amanuel Shetaye's liner from around the 30 yard line that landed past the goal line.  St. Louis Park concluded the scoring on Bjorn Bleske's shot that hit the crossbar and landed in the net.  

Tuesday night was also Youth Night where two teams of Park Valley United U10 teams scrimmaged at halftime of both games.  

The Orioles improved their record to 3-2-2 and return to action on Thursday, September 15 as they host the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights at 7 PM.  

The Jaguars fell to 5-2-1 and will also be in action on the 15th when they travel to New Prague for a 7 PM game with the Trojans.  In four of Jefferson's wins this season, they have outscored their opponents 10-0.  

SLP Orioles Split With Chanhassen Storm

 Thursday night was the first home Metro West Conference soccer double header as the host St. Louis Park Orioles battled the Chanhassen Storm with the boys coming out on top 1-0 and the girls blown out by the Storm 9-1.  

First up was the boys game where one goal turned out to be enough, thanks to Tylor Puentes second half goal that led the St. Louis Park Orioles to a 1-0 win over the Chanhassen Storm.  

Neither team would tally in the first half.  The Storm had an opportunity to take the early lead when Aayan Shrestha went two on one downfield but his shot was blocked by Oriole goalkeeper Luis Benitez Matias.  

St. Louis Park would find the net in the second half as Abdi Abdullahi fed Puentes on the left side of the net and he propelled the ball to the goal.  It would turn out to be the deciding goal of the game.  

The Orioles improved their record to 2-2-1 and return to action Saturday, September 10 at noon in Bloomington against the Kennedy Eagles.  The Storm fell to 2-3-1 and will host their district rival the Chanhassen Storm on Thursday, September 15 at 7 PM.  

The girls game would turn out to be a stormy stormy night for the St. Louis Park Orioles as Grace Fogarty scored a record six goals to lead the Chanhassen Storm to a 6-1 win.

Fogarty, who will be wearing a maroon and gold jersey next season at Minnesota scored her first goal from the center slot.  The Orioles tied the game on Vesna Dennison's goal 1:30 later.  But Chanhassen came right back to take the lead for good on Fogarty's second goal.  The Storm would add four more goals to their ledger with two coming from fogarty and Bella Naples to take a 6-1 halftime lead.  

Chanhassen continued their goal run in the second half with three more goals.  The first came from Kaia Burroughs, followed by two more from Fogarty in a span of 1:31.  

The Storm improved their record to 4-1 and will host the Chaska Hawks on Thursday, September 15 at 5 PM.  The Orioles fell to 1-4 and return to action on Saturday, September 10 at 2 PM against the Kennedy Eagles in Bloomington.  

SLP Orioles-Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars Football Preview

 Hearts will be heavy Friday night when the St. Louis Park Orioles face the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars at Bloomington Stadium following the news that Jaguar freshman Ethan Glynn suffered a paralyzing injury in last week's freshman team's opener against the Chaska Hawks.

Glynn lost feeling in his shoulders following a tackle and could be paralyzed from the waist down.  The good news is that his surgery was successful.  

More important, there will be a varsity game as both the Orioles and Jaguars are on a quest for their first win this season.  Last week, St. Louis Park was shut out by the Simley Spartans 20-0 and Jefferson fell to the Chaska Hawks 35-7.  

In the Orioles season opener, freshman quarterback Declan Gaines made his varsity debut and his inexperience showed completing 10 of 25 passes for 69 yards, 61 of them were to Stefano Giovannelli.  The ground game was led by Jimmy Hager, who had 12 carries for 55 yards.  The bright spot on defense was Zach Helfmann, leading the Orioles with 22 tackles.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is for Gaines to become more comfortable running the offense and spreading the ball around to his receiving corps.  The Helfmann anchored defense has to stop the Jaguar passing attack.  

Looking at the Jaguars, junior quarterback Tyson Schultz in their opener against Chaska completed 16 of 33 passes for 249 yards and accounted for Jefferson's only touchdown, a seven yard pass to Daniel Freitag.  If the name Freitag sounds familiar, he's also an outstanding basketball player for Jefferson.  He also excelled on defense, recording an interception.  

The key to the game for the Jaguars is to test the Orioles pass defense and for Schultz to have a solid game.  The defense last week gave up 213 yards and three touchdowns by Reese turner so they need to stop the running game.  

There could be a wet weather picture Friday night so you might want to pack an umbrella to the game.  Game time is 7 PM.  

SLP Oriole Soccer Teams Swept in Nonconference Play

 It was a warm Tuesday night but things got chilly for the St. Louis Park soccer teams at home as the girls were beaten by the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers 3-1 and the boys lost a heartbreaker to the DeLaSalle Islanders 3-2.  

First up was the girls game that featured balance scoring from three different players to lead the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers to a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles.  

The first half looked like it was going to be scoreless but Wren VanDeWalker let a shot fly into the net to put the Lakers ahead.  They would go up by two at the half when the ball deflected off Elika Vahhaji's foot and rolled into the net.  

Minneapolis Southwest would increase their lead to three in the second half when Anne Layon laid her foot on the ball and drove it to the net.  There would be no shutout for the Lakers since the Orioles would erase the zero from their portion of the scoreboard on a penalty kick from Vesna Dennison.  Neither team would find the net and that's how the game ended.  

Southwest improved their record to 3-1.  The Lakers have won three straight games including two by identical 3-1 scores since losing their season opener to the Minnehaha Academy Redhawks on August 25.  They return to action on Thursday, September 8 as they travel to Minneapolis Washburn for a 5 PM game against the Millers.  

St. Louis Park fell to 1-3 and will also be in action on the 8th when they host the Chanhassen Storm at 7 PM.  

Now to the boys game and just when you thought the game was headed into overtime, there would be a game winning goal from Myles Dillon-Parks with 1:43 in regulation time to lead the DeLaSalle Islanders to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles.  

The Islanders would strike twice in the first half.  The first goal coming from Kenevan Carter and the second on a penalty kick from Dillon-Parks.  

There would be some good news for the Orioles in the second half as they came back to tie the game.  Tylor Puentes would score from the left side and Abdi Abdullahi would line a shot into the net to tie the game.  Would there be overtime on this warm Tuesday night>  The answer would be no when Dillon-Parks scored on a header with 1:43 to go.  

DeLaSalle won their third straight game and improved their record to 3-0.  They will head to Bloomington to face the Kennedy Eagles on Thursday, September 8 at 7 PM.  St. Louis Park fell to 1-2-1 and will also be in action on the 8th as they host the Chanhassen Storm at 5 PM.  

Simley Spartans Shut Out SLP Orioles

 The St. Louis Park defense got a full nelson in their season opener Friday night as Gavin Nelson scored two touchdowns to lead the Simley Spartans to a 20-0 shutout of the host Orioles.  

Defense would prevail in the early going when the Spartans Jake Stanton intercepted Orioles quarterback Declan Gaines on his first varsity possession.  St. Louis Park helped stop a fourth down conversion on Zach Helfmann's sack of Simley quarterback Caden Renslow.  On offense, Simley scored the lone first quarter touchdown when Nelson recovered a fumble inside the end zone.  

Nelson would make his second trip across the goal line in the second quarter.  He went up the middle, broke several St. Louis Park tackles and scored a 19 yard touchdown to put the Spartans ahead 14-0.  Renslow would wrap up the scoring for Simley, scoring on a 10 yard keeper run.  There would be no scoring in the second half as both teams failed to reach the red zone.

Simley opened the season with a 1-0 record and will head to Maplewood on Friday, September 9 to face the Hill-Murray Pioneers at 7 PM.  St. Louis Park fell to 0-1 and will also be on the road the 9th as they head to Bloomington Sradium to face the Jefferson Jaguars at 7 PM.  

Simley Spartans-SLP Orioles Football Preview

 It's a sign that Labor Day weekend is looming.  It also signifies the start of the Minnesota high school football season as the St. Louis Park Orioles begin the 2022 campaign hosting the Simley Spartans Friday, September 2.  

The Spartans, based in Inver Grove Heights advance to the state Class AAAA football tournament last season with a record of 7-4 but the euphoria of a state tournament berth ended in the quarterfinals with a 40-0 rout from the eventual state champion Hutchinson Tigers.  This season, Simley has a couple of key offensive cogs returning in wide receiver Tayvion McCoy and running back Gavin Nelson.  Nelson, who also is part of the school's successful wrestling program will wrestle for the Gophers next season.  His athleticism could pin the Oriole defense and also put the ball in the end zone.  

As for the Orioles, the good news is that 85 players came out for football in 2022.  It's the largest turnout in many years (and likely since the author of this blog has been worked in various press box capacities, including timer and spotter.).  There's quite a bit of experience on both sides of the football, including wide receiver Stefano Giovannelli.  Giovannelli, who pitched a no-hitter in the Section 6AAAA baseball playoffs last may will continue his football career next season at St. Thomas.  

However, there is some bad news is that last year's quarterback will Dvorak graduated and the new St. Louis Park signal caller is sophomore Declan Gaines.  Last season, he played on the freshman team and did not appear in any varsity action.  But he worked hard during the offseason and he has an opportunity to lead the Oriole offense for three years.  The defense has a couple of key returning players in defensive linemen Brian Banks and William Howell.  

Will Simley's state tournament experience continue to this season or will St. Louis Park's new found depth be a factor in Gaines' first game?  The weather picture is going to be a warm one so bring plenty of water because the temperature will be in the 80s for about the first half and drop into the upper 70s when both teams begin their three minute warmup for the second half.  Game time, as usual is 7 PM.  

SLP Oriole Soccer Begins September With a Rout and a Tie

 The first day of September was a scorcher as both St. Louis Park Oriole soccer teams were in action Thursday night as the girls blew away the Minneapolis South Tigers 9-1 and the boys played to a 1-1 tie against the Eden Prairie Eagles.  

First up was the girls and it was a big night for Vesna Dennison who scored four goals to lead the St. Louis Park Orioles to a 9-91 rout of the Minneapolis South Tigers.  

The Orioles would jump out to a three goal lead in the first half that began with Dennison's first goal coming from an indirect free kick.  Hanna Wilsey would put St. Louis Park ahead by two on a shot from the center slot.  Dennison would tally for the second time to increase the lead to three.  There would be no shutout for the Orioles since Ella Tennant would tally.  It would be Minneapolis South's only goal since St. Louis Park would wrap up the first half scoring with two more goals.  Audrey Martin would score from the left side and Dennison would get the hat trick on a penalty kick with 5:55 left in the first half.  

Dennison was not done sending the ball to the net in the second half as she would score her fourth goal on a rebound.  For the second time in the game, the Orioles were awarded a penalty kick and they capitalized on it when Sophia Dvorak found the net.  Jordan Doliner concluded the scoring on a breakaway with :17 left.  

St. Louis Park ended a two game losing streak and now has a record of 1-2.  They will host the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers on Tuesday, September 6 at 5 PM.  Minneapolis South fell to 2-1 and will also return to action on the 6th as they travel to Chaska to face the Hawks at 7 PM.  

Now to the boys game.  Both the St. Louis Park Orioles and Eden Prairie Eagles scored one first half goal and that would be the final result as both teams would play to a 1-1 tie.  

The Orioles would strike first on Tylor Puentes goal and Alexander Yu would tie the game on a penalty kick.  It would be all the balls that would enter the net on this Thursday night.  Both teams had scoring opportunities, including Yu's chance to put the Eagles ahead on a free kick going up against a three player Oriole wall.  But Yu's shot would be blocked and the score would remain even at one.  

St. Louis Park's record stands at 1-1-1 and will be back in action on Tuesday, September 6 at 7 PM as they host the DeLaSalle Islanders.  Eden Prairie recorded their second tie of the season and now has a record of 1-0-2.  Their next game is Saturday, September 3 at 3 PM against the Edina Hornets at Kuhlman Stadium in Edina.