The Benilde-St. Margaret’s girl’s soccer team will make their seventh State tournament appearance in eight years with a 3-1 victory over the Orono Spartans on Tuesday, October 16.
The Red Knights gained an early lead with two goals from junior defensemen Kelly Pannek. Both her goals came from around 20 yards out and electrified the Red Knight crowd. “I don’t usually score like that, if you asked me to do that again I don’t know if I could,” Pannek said.
The Spartans had some chances in the first half, but were unable to sneak anything past senior goalkeeper Annie Michels, who had six saves on the night. The score was 2-0 at halftime.
Three minutes into the second half, Orono scored on a free-kick from 30 yards out by freshman defender Claire Bush, cutting the lead to one. Both teams battled back and forth until Red Knight forward, freshman Aleska Tataryn, scored on a fast break, making the lead 3-1.
The Red Knights stopped all Spartan advances and held on for a 3-1 victory, obtaining their third straight section title. The clock hit zero, and the team and fans rushed the field to celebrate another section title and state tournament appearance.
The Red Knight-Spartan match-up was a rematch from earlier in the season, with a 5-1 victory going to the Red Knights. Orono was missing key players Sophie and Macie Babo for the section final. “They would have made it a little tighter of a game,” BSM head coach Mr. Scott Helling-Christy said.
This is girls’ soccer’s seventh state appearance in eight years, but is special to senior captains Haley Jerabek, Dana Buckhorn, and Anne Arnason, who have been members of the team since freshman year. “It’s our last chance and we’ve struggled winning state before,” Buckhorn said.
The Red Knights are undefeated this season and have high hopes for the state tournament. “I think this team can definitely [win state] this year,” Jerabek said. The team doesn’t know who, when, or where they will play as of now, but game one will take place sometime during late next week.
Mick Hawkins • Oct 18, 2012 at 10:48 am
Hi Andrew,
When they recently announced that Buckhorn had scored 100 points in her career, the announcer also mentioned that she was the 3rd person in the history of the BSM program to do so.
That got me wondering: who were the other two?
Do you have any idea or any way of finding out for me, please?
Go Red Knights!
M. Hawkins