Mahtomedi, Orono advance in Class 1A girls soccer

For Mahtomedi, one shot meant everything.

Senior forward Michelle Austin's kick trickled into the St. Peter goal with 3:11 left in sudden-death overtime Tuesday, lifting the Zephyrs to a thrilling 1-0 victory in a girls' soccer Class 1A state quarterfinal game at Farmington.

"This one was definitely, probably the most exciting goal," Austin said. "And it had a lot of value to it. This one means that our whole team is going to another state game."

The quarterfinal was scoreless throughout as the Zephyrs (15-4-0) found themselves with several scoring chances, but St. Peter (16-3-2) kept coming up with some solid defense to keep Mahtomedi off the board.

Meanwhile, the Zephyrs' defense didn't let St. Peter get close to the goal for most of the match.

With 15.4 seconds left in the first 10-minute, sudden-death overtime half, St. Peter senior goalkeeper Desi Krueger made perhaps the save of the match to that point, stopping Mahtomedi senior Mackenzie Mason's penalty-kick shot.

"St. Peter deserved better," said Mahtomedi coach Dave Wald. "They played a heck of a game."

Orono 6, Dover-Eyota 0: The focus going into the game for Orono was simple: Play well in the first 10 minutes.

The second-seeded Spartans (18-2-0) took a 1-0 lead early and didn't look back, coasting to a convincing win.

Mission accomplished.

"When we score right away, it gets us more pumped," senior forward Lily McKown said.

Tuesday's game was a rematch of last year's state quarterfinal pairing, which Orono won 3-1.

McKown registered a hat trick, scoring two goals before halftime.

Her first goal came in the 19th minute, when she moved through the Dover-Eyota defense and caught the goalkeeper out of position.

The Spartans put the game out of reach early in the second half with goals about a minute apart. Senior forward Carly Goehring put a shot over the reach of the Eagles goalkeeper for a 4-0 lead.

McKown then scored her third goal following a sequence of passes that pushed the lead to 5-0.

"Any team's going to play well in the state tournament," Orono coach Erin Murray said. "When you have 10 starters that are seniors, it just kind of goes without saying. They want to keep playing."

On their current streak, they have recorded 13 shutouts, including all three section games.

Orono has not surrendered a goal since Oct. 3.