Eagan, Maple Grove win to advance to Class 2A girls' soccer title match

If Eagan coach Bulut Ozturk had scripted how he wanted his team's semifinal game against Wayzata to play out, it likely would have been very similar to what actually happened.

The Wildcats took a lead, added to it early in the second half and held on for a 2-1 victory over the top-seeded Trojans on Tuesday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Eagan (16-2-2) took a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick by Megan Plaschko in the game's second minute. It marked the first time all season that Wayzata trailed in a game.

Plaschko, a junior, switched from her goalkeeping position to convert the kick.

"It's what we needed," said Plaschko, who has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota.

"We talked about starting the game quickly. I haven't missed one all year, so I was confident going up."

That was part one of Ozturk's game plan.

It came in the game's 52nd minute, when Molly Busch turned and scored with a 10-yard shot from in front of the Wayzata goal.

"That was the difference right there," Wayzata coach Tony Peszneker said.

Wayzata cut the deficit in half in the 59th minute on a brilliant 35-yard laser of a shot by Megan Prazich. But the Trojans could not score again.

It was Eagan's eighth consecutive victory in state tournament play. The Wildcats won Class 2A state titles in 2014 and 2015 but did not qualify last season.

It was the first loss of the season for injury-riddled Wayzata (16-1-3), which was without two of its top players, including Ms. Soccer finalist Marissa Kalkar.

Maple Grove, making its first state tournament appearance, outscored Lakeville North 3-1 in the shootout to advance to Thursday's Class 2A championship game.

"You never like to go to a shootout," Maple Grove coach Ben LeVahn said. "We really pushed hard to finish it during regulation."

The No. 3-seeded Crimson (19-2) outplayed the Panthers for much of regulation and through two overtime periods, But when time ran out, the two teams were in a scoreless deadlock.

A shootout loomed, bringing back bad memories for Lakeville North coach Jeremiah Johnson.

"It's horrible," he said. "We lost in a shootout in the quarterfinals last year to the eventual champion. The year before that, we lost in a shootout in the semifinals to Eden Prairie. Three years in a row, losing in a shootout, it stings."

"The post and the crossbar were very cruel today," Johnson said.

The eventual winner was scored by Meredith Haakenson, the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year and recently named Ms. Soccer in Class 2A.