Mounds Park Academy was peaking at the right time entering the state boys soccer tournament.
Scoring just 21 goals in its 15 regular-season games, the Panthers scored 11 times in winning three straight section games, including Masen Donohoo’s overtime winner in a victory over St. Croix Prep in the final.
However, the good vibes came to an end Wednesday in a 2-1 double-overtime loss to No. 2 Stewartville in a Class 1A quarterfinal at Farmington High School.
Cole Kropp scored with 5:03 remaining in the second overtime, sending the Tigers (20-0-0) to a semifinal match at 7 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. Bank Stadium. They’ll play the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 3 St. Cloud Cathedral and unseeded Cristo Rey Jesuit.
Wiktor Sroka nearly won it for the unseeded Panthers in (7-8-4) the first overtime, but was robbed on a diving save by Stewartville goaltender Brecken Rester.
Leyton Hudson scored midway through the first half for Mounds Park Academy, who was in the tournament for the first time since 2010.
Sroka sprinted down the right side and sent a pass to the box where Hudson’s redirect from about 10 yards out found the back of the net in the 19th minute.
Ranked No. 6 in the final state soccer poll, Stewartville has allowed just 10 goals this season, no more than one in a game.
Cody Clark scored early in the second half for Stewartville, who scored at least two goals in every pre-state tournament match.
Rester made a diving save less than a minute later, and Owen Johnston — Mounds Park Academy’s goaltender — snared a Clark shot about two minutes thereafter to keep the game 1-1. Johnston added a big save against Kropp, a 28-goal scorer, about 10 minutes later.
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