East Ridge Girls HS Team Advances To The State Tournament In Their First Year
After a slow start that saw the team go 0-3 then 2-4 after their first 6 games, the team then went 11-2-1 in their last 14 games to roll into Section Playoffs firing on all cylinders.
In the Section quarterfinals, the seniorless lady Raptors avenged their opening day loss to South St Paul (0-2) by defeating the Packers 1-0 in a hard-fought contest.
The team then upset defending Class A State Champions Mahtomedi HS 2-1 in the Section semifinals with the winning goal coming with 12 seconds left to play.
The Raptors came up against Simley HS in the Secion final, having lost to Simley 1-0 in the second game of the season back in August. In what will forever be known as the 2009 HS Mudbowl, The ER girls came back from a goal behind to win the Section title 3-1 and qualify for the State Tournament.
The State quarterfinals pitted the Raptors against Cloquet, and on a rainy and cold October night, the dream season came to an end with a loss in a penalty kick shootout.
With 17 out of the 22 Varsity girls coming from different club teams, the girls showed a lot of heart and commitment to come together this past season, and are looking forward to next year!
East Ridge Boy's High School Soccer Wraps Up First Year
It was a very exciting first year for the boys soccer program at East Ridge High School. We had over 70 student athletes tryout this past fall and we able to form three teams. With the growing Raptor community we should be able to field four teams next fall.
The varsity team battled with a lot of the top teams in the metro area early in the season and learned a lot. Some of the highlights of the year were a tie with #8 ranked Anoka and the first 2A win in program history over North St Paul. The team also had an all-conference award go to captain Robbie MacNamara as well as all-conference honorable mention going to Nate Thao and Joe Lewis.
