photo courtesy of Mark Lex

Senior Dana Buckhorn, a captain and forward for the girls’ soccer team, scored the Red Knights’ game winning goal in overtime against South St. Paul in the State Semifinal game at the Metrodome on Monday, October 29.

The Benilde-St. Margaret’s girls’ soccer team advanced to the Class A title game with a 3-2 victory over the South St. Paul Packers after senior forward Dana Buckhorn scored the winning goal in overtime.

The Red Knights faced the Packers during last year’s tournament and won 3-1. “They were young last year and more organized this year,” Head Coach Scott Helling-Christy said.

Packers forward Tori Poole scored the first goal of the game on a shot into the lower corner. Freshman forward Aleska Tataryn responded ten minutes later tying the game at 1-1.

Senior forward Maria Michels scored her third goal of the tournament with four minutes left in the half giving the Red Knights a 2-1 lead at halftime.

The Packers tied the game on Poole’s second goal of the game, marking the first time the Red Knights have given up two goals in a game this season. “They had a really good counter-attack; they’d kick a long ball and we wouldn’t clear it,” senior captain Anne Arnason said.

The Red Knights had plenty of chances to retake the lead, but couldn’t despite a 34-7 advantage in shots. “It was frustrating because we had so many opportunities and easy goals we didn’t get in the net,” senior captain Haley Jerabek said.

With the game tied after regulation, the Red Knights were heading to their second straight overtime game. “We’ve worked on composure and having good players with skill,” Helling-Christy said.

The Red Knights kept getting chances to score and when midfielder Kelly Pannek was taken down, it gave Buckhorn a chance to win the game. Buckhorn calmly struck the free-kick past senior goaltender Alicia Sethre who made 15 total saves during the game. “We got a really good opportunity and I got a lucky hit,” Buckhorn said.

The Red Knights advance to the Class A final for the second consecutive year and fourth time in program history where they will face the Blake Bears. The Red Knights lost to the Bears in last year’s title game and tied them 0-0 on August 28 of this year. “We’re back for revenge this year, we’ve been working hard all year and we’ll come out and give it our all,” Buckhorn said.