Andover, Stillwater advance in Class 2A boys' soccer state tournament

Stillwater's Spencer Scott heard the bold "overrated" chant from Mounds View fans as the underdog Mustangs tied Scott's undefeated Ponies in the second half.

"It kind of put a chip on our shoulder and woke us up a little bit," Scott said.

Stillwater domination followed. The team buried five unanswered goals for a 6-1 victory in the Class 2A state soccer tournament quarterfinal Wednesday at Benilde-St. Margaret's High School.

With the victory, the No. 1 seed Ponies (20-0) advanced to play No. 4 seed Andover (15-2-2) in the semifinals at 8 a.m. Monday at U.S. Bank Stadium. The game will be the historic first state tournament game played at the new $1.1 billion stadium.

Stillwater got two goals from senior Miguel Caravias, the second holding up as the game-winner. His first came less than four minutes into the game as Stillwater led 1-0 at halftime.

Mounds View, crushed 6-0 by the Ponies on Sept. 29, never quit. Xavier Zengue tied the score 1-1 with 28:31 to play and the Mustangs (9-11-1) were thinking upset. After all, they were the No. 8 seed in their section, yet made the state tournament.

Then Caravias scored on a great feed from Scott, and Stillwater seized momentum.

Senior Kohei Adams added two goals in the second half.

"With 25 minutes left it could have been anyone's game but you saw what Stillwater has," Mustangs coach Chris Scanlon said. "They are very dangerous."

Andover 2, Moorhead 0

Andover senior Alex Gutenberg tallied 24 goals this season and got held scoreless in just three games.

Even an alpha scorer needs help, however, and junior Logan Rohloff stepped up against Moorhead.

With less than six minutes to go before halftime, Gutenberg sent the ball toward Rohloff, who turned and fired. He beat goalkeeper Caden Triggs low and just inside the post.

Rohloff's goal, his 10th of the season, gave Andover something to show for its advantage in scoring chances. He curled an earlier shot toward the goal that Triggs leapt to knock away. And Gutenberg just missed over the crossbar twice in the first half.

"He's picked up his scoring later in the year," Gutenberg said. "We need him to put balls in the net, and he managed to turn around and snipe one. That's just what we needed to happen because we had so many early opportunities."

Leading 1-0 at halftime, Andover braced for a response from No. 5 seed Moorhead (16-3). Instead, Gutenberg made it 2-0 with a rocket from 20 yards out.

"I took a touch, saw the goal and thought about having one," he said. "Luckily that one went in."