Washburn boys' soccer stuns Minnetonka in overtime

It took a few extra minutes, but unseeded Minneapolis Washburn pulled off the upset.

Senior Sam Abrams' overtime goal lifted Washburn to a 4-3 victory over top-seeded Minnetonka on Tuesday at Benilde-St. Margaret's in the boys' soccer Class 2A state tournament. The Millers are making their first appearance at state since 1989.

"Our coach has been telling us the whole year we can play with anyone," said Abrams, who found the ball with plenty of room to shoot with 3:03 left in overtime to knock off the Skippers. "Tonight just shows that."

Luke Peterson scored two goals and Mitchell Taylor added a goal for Washburn (12-4-3), which led 2-0 and 3-1 before two Skippers goals 31 seconds apart in the second half forced overtime.

A goal by Minnetonka junior Avery Weaver with 10:14 to play in regulation evened the score at 3-3. From there, the Millers had to regroup once the momentum shifted.

"We played a two-minute stretch where we kind of lost our focus a little bit," Washburn coach Aaron Percy said. "We've been preaching hard about just being focused and continue playing, so we just grabbed everybody together and said, 'Hey, be done with that and just keep playing.' "

Minnetonka's Finn Histon scored late in the first half to cut Washburn's lead to 2-1. But in the second half, Peterson's second tally gave the Millers another two-goal lead before Minnetonka rallied.

Minnetonka boasted the two-time Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in Suad Suljic, a senior from Bosnia. He had 25 goals in 17 games but was held in check by Washburn.

Anoka 2, Eagan 1: Two goals 44 seconds apart was all the scoring Anoka needed against Eagan. The Tornadoes held off the Wildcats to advance to the state semifinal.

The fourth-seeded Tornadoes (15-3-2) fended off several chances by No. 5 Eagan (13-4-3) in the final minutes to survive.

Anoka, last year's Class 2A champion, will play Minneapolis Washburn on Monday in St. Cloud.

Junior midfielder Donnie Guimont scored the game's first goal for Anoka with 29:38 left in the first half. Fellow junior Miguel Martinez-Urrutia added another goal with 28:54 to play on an assist from Guimont.

Eagan's Ryan Conroy had the Wildcats' lone goal when he found the back of the net with 17:51 to go in the first half. Anoka nearly took a 3-1 lead into halftime but Connor Schaaf's penalty shot was stopped by Eagan goalkeeper Dalton VonKaenel.