The Saint Paul Academy boys’ soccer team saw its season end just shy of the state tournament when it suffered a 1-0 loss to Humboldt in the Section 3A final on October 19.
The Spartans (9-3-4), who were ranked among the top teams in their class and won the Independent Metro Athletic Conference title for the first time in five years, outshot Humboldt 27-3 but couldn’t find the back of the net. Even more frustrating is that they had beaten the Hawks during the regular season.
It all left SPA coach Max Lipset scratching his head. “I don’t want to take anything away from Humboldt. I think they’ll do well in the state tournament,” he said. “But it’s especially hard when you feel like you were the better team. Even their coaches were saying after the game, ‘You guys were definitely the better team.’”
According to Lipset, the early moments of the game told the story. The Spartans peppered the Humboldt net in that span, doing everything but scoring.
“We had four great chances early,” Lipset said. “If even one of them goes in, it’s a different game. And the goal they scored was on kind of a fluky counterattack.”
“We had four great chances early,” Lipset said. “If even one of them goes in, it’s a different game. And the goal they scored was on kind of a fluky counterattack.”
Lipset noted that the Richfield High School field where the section final was played was only about 58 yards wide, about seven yards narrower than the norm. That, he said, favored Humboldt’s game more than SPA’s.
The Spartans made it to the section final by defeating Twin Cities Academy 4-1 in the first round and Hiawatha Collegiate 2-0 in the semifinals.
SPA faced a tough schedule during the regular season and did quite well. The Spartans defeated Providence Academy twice and also bested Breck, Minnehaha Academy and Blake, all highly ranked teams in the IMAC.
SPA had several talented players on its roster, including three who were nominated for all-state honors: senior captain and defensive midfielder Leo Larson, junior forward Cooper Bollinger-Danielson and senior central defender Gregory Forsberg.
Larson, pegged by Lipset as a solid college prospect, had five goals and seven assists this year. Bollinger-Danielson led the team with 15 goals and 15 assists. Forsberg was the leader on defense.
— Bill Wagner
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