Andover, North St. Paul advance in 2A boys' soccer

Sophomore Maxwell Marquette's role on the Andover boys' soccer team is to give his fleet senior teammates an occasional breather.

He took their breath away Thursday, completing a 2-on-1 breakaway to score the game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Minneapolis Southwest in a Class 2A boys' state quarterfinal at Chisago Lakes.

It was Marquette's first varsity goal.

"It wasn't much for me," he said. "All I had to do was pass it in the net. It was really Emmanuel [Ekunseitan]. He had a nice run and fed me a perfect pass.

"I wasn't really thinking. I was just running as fast as I could. When it went in, I was incredibly happy."

Marquette's inaugural goal ousted the tournament's top seed.

But Andover senior Andrew Bird, who scored the Huskies' first goal on a breakaway, said his team wasn't thinking of itself as underdogs.

As for Marquette, who turned his five minutes of playing time into the memory of a lifetime, Bird said: "That was huge for us as a program and for him as a player. That's probably the biggest thing he'll ever remember."

North St. Paul 2, Prairie Seeds Academy 1: Adam Hildebrandt gathered a long crossing pass to the right of the goal, and found himself with a lot of net to look at.

The Polars' senior midfielder didn't pause to think about what was at stake, firing the ball past Lycans goalkeeper Moise CJ Damey for what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the second state quarterfinal at Chisago Lakes.

"I got a good talking from [teammate] Adolfo [Barrera-Gonzalez]. He told me to take a nice touch, and I just went up and hit it. It was a good pass from everyone all the way around out there," Hildebrandt said.

"I just had my head down and shot the ball. I was waiting till it got to the back of the net, and then I was like, 'That just happened?' And I turned around and hugged my teammates for the passes."

The Polars (18-1-1) will face Andover (15-4-1) in a 4 p.m. Monday semifinal in the Metrodome.