Alex blanks St. Cloud Tech in section final, advances to state

SAINT CLOUD – Limiting the Cardinals’ scoring chances to long shots with wide angles wasn’t enough for the St. Cloud Tech girls soccer team in the Section 8-2A championship Thursday at St. Cloud Apollo.

Alexandria forwards had perfect strikes and its defenders clamped up any response Tech had in the 3-0 victory. The Cardinals (15-1-3) advanced to the state tournament for the third straight year and the Tigers (9-4-4) go home after playing in the team’s first section championship since 2001, according to coach Katie Boardman.

“We just looked tired,” Boardman said. “Alex has a good, deep bench. They sub a lot. We just looked like we got tired and weren't winning 50/50 balls. They were the better team tonight, credit to them.”

Playing in the Section 8-3A championship also on Thursday, the Sartell-St. Stephen boys lost 2-1 to a metro schedule-hardened St. Micheal-Albertville (9-10). The Sabres (13-2-3) improved on their Oct. 2 loss to the Knights, when they were blanked 2-0.

In St. Cloud, Alex junior Allie Haabala had two beautiful goals from either side of the penalty box that curled into the uppermost corners of the Tiger goal, leading off scoring in the 24th minute and putting a seal on the game in the fifth minute of the second half. Tech senior goalie Camryn Kenning hardly had a chance to get a glove on the shots. Camree Miller scored the second goal just two minutes after halftime.

“We have a very explosive team,” Alexandria head coach Amy Korynta said. “It was 1-0 and we wanted to come out and start strong in that second half and we kind of exploded. I think we played very smart with the ball. We possess the ball well and I think we played very smart defensively all over the field.”

Alexandria has scored over 4.5 goals per game this season and only allowed six total. Tech scored one of those in the teams’ meeting Sept. 19th. The game ended in a 1-1 stalemate and after the Cardinals lost for the only time this season in the next game versus Sartell (11-5), Korynta said some formations and positions changed. In the eight games since then Alex hasn’t allowed a goal, including 8-0 and 13-0 wins over Sauk Rapids-Rice (2-10-3) and St. Cloud Apollo (0-15).

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Alexandria beat Little Falls (7-7-2) in the semifinals by a score of 2-0 and Tech beat Willmar (4-7-4) 1-0. Tech has also shut out its last three opponents and Boardman said replacing Jayna Benson, Raena Volker and Sara Maiers will be difficult.

“I have three seniors back there who are great kids,” she said. “They’ve been with me for a while so they really lead back there and help orchestrate everything that we need. When it gets tough, they're there for us. We can count on them.”

Tech graduates eight seniors.

Likewise, Korynta said the Cardinal girls’ experience is an explanation for how good her team is. Many of them played together in youth soccer.

“They know what it means to play with intensity and when new players enter the program, enter the team, it’s very intense,” she said. “We’ve established that this is how we do things and those coming in get right in there and work hard. It’s just a really great culture.”

Korynta was pleased with how her defense limited opportunities, especially in the second half.

Tech’s offense threatened a few times, with junior forward Maggie O'Hara and a few others snapping a few shots off, but as the game progressed, they became less often. If the Tiger defenders were able to clear the ball downfield, their midfielders were wary of pressing too far forward.

“We got tired, so then we started sitting back farther and it was hard for us to get forward,” Boardman said. “We talked about that because we have done that in the past and when we get tired, we can't sit back. When we move forward, we need numbers. Alex does a good job with their defense sitting back so they limit our opportunities to split the defense.”

Korynta said Alexandria is hoping for one of the top-five seeds in the Class

Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud Tech soccer loses to Alexandria in section championship