Byron soccer girls on to Section finals
Byron’s girls soccer team kicked their way through to the Section 1AA final game, following a 1-0 win over Red Wing, in semifinal action on Thursday, October 13. Earlier on Tuesday, the girls defeated Faribault, 7-0, to earn the semis-slot vs. the Wingers.
Faribault Game The Bears held a 3-0 advantage at halftime. Goals: Marissa Ellavsky, Paige Halder, Kylie Johnson, Catherine Lorentz (2), Payton Satzke, Rachel Fode; Assists: Alexa Schrooten, Taylor Finney, Amber Roble, Catherine Lorentz, Ashlyn Rogne.
Red Wing Game Byron got just one goal, but it was enough. Paige Halder, on a Payton Satzke assist, connected for the No. 1-seeded Bears in the first half. That gave Byron the 1-0 win over fifth-seeded Red Wing. Byron (15-0-3) next played No. 3-seeded Winona, on Tuesday, October 18, in the section final.
K-M soccer girls ousted from playoffs.
KASSON — The Kasson-Mantorville girls soccer team was defeated by Winona, 2-0, on Thursday, October 13, in Section 1AA semifinal action.
K-M goalie Kylie Meyer was stellar, as always, making 10 saves, but it just wasn’t enough to stop the Winhawks. No. 3-seeded Winona (11-5-2 overall) got both of its scores in the second half. Shots: Winona, 16; K-M, 6; Corner kicks: K-M, 3; Winona, 2; Saves: Kylie Meyer, 10; Winona, 1; KoMets finished the season with an impressive 11-3-3 mark.
“We knew it would be challenging to beat a good team twice in a season. They really came to play and demonstrated their skill all night long,” said Coach Rick Barnhill.
Winona’s technical speed was an issue throughout the game, and their defense played well enough that the Hawk’s keeper needed only to make one save and face just 6 shots.
“All in all, I felt as a coaching staff, we were able to extract as much ability from the players as they had to give, and we got results far beyond expectations at the start of the season—considering the team was almost entirely re-constructed,” added Coach Barnhill.
Winona faced No. 1-seeded Byron Tuesday in Austin, for the section championship at the Austin Wescott Complex.
Season is over for T/K-W/H soccer girls
On Thursday, October 13, Triton/Kenyon-Wanamingo/Hayfield had a section playoff game at RCTC vs. Class A #7-ranked Rochester Lourdes. They are one of the 2 or 3 best teams T/K-W/H played all season, so it was a good test to see how far they had come.
“We played one of our best games, but we came up on the wrong end of an 8-0 score. A month or two ago we might have lost to a team like that by 10 or 12 goals,” Coach Jeremy Himli said. Salma Fernandez had 15 saves in goal. The loss to Lourdes ended the Cobras’ season at 1-11. T/K-W/H graduates just two seniors, Nerissa Chilson and Devany Colin, so they will have an experienced team back. Fourteen different girls started multiple games and played a lot of minutes, so in a sense, the Cobras have 12 starters returning.