Kayla Poirer didn’t get the glory that comes associated with scoring a goal, but without a couple skillful touches by the senior, Mahtomedi would no longer have a chance to repeat as state champions.
An unlikely save by Olivia Boberg was huge, too.
An outside midfielder, Poirer set up Lucy Peer and Elise Aflakpi for goals 3 minutes, 28 seconds apart in the second half as the Zephyrs rallied past Mankato East, 2-1 in a Class 2A girls soccer semifinal Wednesday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Top-seeded Mahtomedi (16-2-2) will face either No. 2 Blake or No. 3 Holy Angels for the title at 12:30 p.m. Friday. The Zephyrs beat Holy Angels 2-0 in last year’s title tilt.
Down 1-0 at the break, Zephyrs coach Dave Wald said his message was about attitude.
The Zephyrs graduated 11 seniors from last year’s championship team, and have played all season without injured captains Allie Rippentrop, a striker, and North Dakota goalie commit Jacque Worden. Rippentrop returned with three shifts in the win.
“We’ve been kind of piecing it together all season. It hasn’t always been pretty, but these girls get it done. For the last few years, we’ve had a lot of people in front of them. It’s their time now. But it’s hard, this is a tough situation, a lot of pressure, so I think we kind of played afraid in the first half,” Wald said. “… It’s in those big moments in the final third of who’s going to have the attitude to get in there and do the dirty work. Today, Lucy and Elise did that.”
A play into the middle off a Poirier cross ended with Peer scoring on a rebound in front in the 49th minute. From a similar spot on the pitch, Poirier deked a defender and her centering pass was headed in by Aflakpi soon thereafter.
“Kayla has a really good foot and really good aim, especially on the corners. … She’s just great at that,” Aflakpi said.
“Great goals, hard to defend that,” Mankato East coach Miranda Rauenhort said.
The two Zephyr goals would not have been enough if not for the alert play by Boberg less than five minutes later.
Goalkeeper Harlow Berger made a sliding, point-blank save in the box, but the rebound went right to a Cougar, who for a split-second had the entire net to shoot at. But Boberg, a freshman defender, hustled to the goal line to block the attempt.
“All I knew was to keep the ball out, get back up and move it,” she said.
Mia Graff’s cross from near the right corner ricocheted in off the far post to give Mankato East (15-3-2) a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute.
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