The Wayzata boys soccer team won the Section 6AAA championship Tuesday, defeating Minneapolis Washburn in a penalty-kick shootout to reach the Class AAA state tournament for the fourth time in five seasons.
The Trojans rallied from behind twice during regulation. Washburn’s Lucas Neu scored both of the Millers’ goals, including one with 3:44 remaining that gave Washburn a 2-1 lead.
Preston Williams tied the match for Wayzata with 2:06 left. After two scoreless overtime periods, the Trojans won the shootout 3-2, with Bennett McCain converting the deciding kick.
Watch the CCX Media highlights above. CCX Media reported the October 21 result, with John Jacobson covering the match. Video and featured image courtesy of CCX Media.
The Wayzata girls soccer team advanced to the Class AAA state tournament for a sixth consecutive season Tuesday after defeating Minneapolis Washburn in a 10-round penalty-kick shootout in the Section 6AAA final.
The Trojans and Millers finished regulation tied 2-2 and remained even after a 20-minute overtime period. Wayzata prevailed 9-8 on penalty kicks, with Nora Gengerke converting the deciding attempt in the tenth round.
Mackenzie Daneman and Ava Molde scored Wayzata’s two goals in regulation.
Metro is always a fun meet. Hundreds of fans, high energy, music pumping through loud speakers throughout the park, and the only lights for blocks are the ones lighting up the course. There are 10 races total, from the littlest runners in elementary school, all the way up through Varsity running in the darkness of night. Glow sticks, light up hair ties, and glow-in-the-dark face paint and glitter give the meet a different vibe than any other. It’s a tradition many runners look forward to.
Middle school girls lead the pack going 1,2 with Catherine Williams and Emily Nelso PRing in their 3,000 M race with an 11:11 and 11:20. Kinsley Fairchild came in with an 11:39 followed by Natalie Pilliod and Harper Allen all placing top 10. Wayzata runs away as team winners with a score of 21, beating 2nd place Eden Prairie by 40 points. The future is looking strong with these girls!
The middle school boys also had a strong showing winning with 31 points, also over Eden Prairie by 51 points. Led by Elliot Williams winning the race in a 10:13, followed by Reid Kruger with a 10:26 and Gavin Klein in a 10:33. Chase Beranek was also in the top 10 with a 10:44. Dynamic showing for the boys!
Wayzata high school girls and boys did not race their Varsity teams, but runners stepped up to fill spots and held their own.
JV finished 3rd of 9 teams with some big PRs. Avery Feia, 10th grader, lead the team, finishing 8th of nearly 200 runners, with a time of 21:36 and finished just a tenth of a second ahead of Senior teammate Catherine Sengupta, who PR’d by 2 minutes. Sawyer Backer ran a season best to finish 16th overall, followed by Kaia Brunsting who also PR’d with a 22:21.
On the boys JV side, Thomas Barrett absolutely crushed the race with a time of 16:58 and winning the heat big. Wayzata had 12 of the top 20 finishers which is impressive. Shivam Patel finished 2nd with a time of 17:23, followed by Oliver Martinson, Zubin Sinha, and Ethan Kim finishing 3rd, 4th, and 5th, while Kim had a huge PR of 17:43. Aiden McNalian, Ethan Parr, and Martin Lindquist rounded out the top 10 for the heat. JV takes home the win with just 15 points, the best score possible in the sport.
Onto Varsity. The girls had their work cut out for them against top runners in the state like Brynlee Wegner from Blaine, but came to show what they could do. Lead by Senior Lucy Issa, and an enormous lifetime best run at 20:02 finishing 49th overall. Kingsley Loso, Claire Herman, and Grace Marley all went sub 21 and finished top 100 for the top girls race. Wayzata finished 10th of 24 teams.
The boys Varsity finished 7th overall, with Freshman Finnegan Allen leading the team with a 16:16, followed by Matthew Wang at 16:42, and another Freshman Brooks Merrill going a 16:52, all PRs for them. Jackson Lueder and Jack Paris all finished sub 17 scoring for the team.
Next week catch JV and Varsity teams in Iowa at the Steve Johnson Invitational where they’ll see some out-of-state talent.
Griak is one of the biggest meets of the season, with a longstanding tradition in Minnesota of drawing runners from all over the country. It’s a great preview for teams and individuals to see their competition for upcoming meets like Nike Regionals. This year was the first time in the 40 years of the meet, that the venue changed to Fort Snelling Golf Course. Unlike Les Bolstad, it’s previous location known for being tough and hilly, the new course handed out a ton of PR’s. In fact, all 9 finishing runners from Wayzata ran their personal best times, virtually unheard of in mid-September.
Wayzata girls locked in, and finished 3rd overall, 2nd of the Minnesota teams, just behind Edina. The 2 teams have been battling for the top seed in the State all season. They’ll face each other come Lake Conference Championship and Sections in October. Both teams are young and looking to finish as the best in Minnesota.
Faith Sundet and Sienna Blomberg both came in at 18:04 and 18:05, finishing 21st and 23rd in the Championship race. Naoko Neitz bettered her time from last week by over 2 minutes at 18:48. Adele Stark had a huge race with an 18:52 and Brianna Ledman had over a minute and a half drop with at 19:02, finishing 67th overall. And the Trojans didn’t let up. Cody Riddering, Eve Lofgren, Laney Granberg, and Olivia Cahill rounded out the team, all going sub 20. The depth that Wayzata continues to have is unreal, and they continue to get better and better.
At the starting line
Last week, according to Dyestat.com early season outlooks have Wayzata ranked 23rd in the country, and expected to only move up from here after this week’s showing at Griak.
Across the Twin Cities, JV competed in the Mustang Invitational and also placed top 5 in all of the heats, including the up and coming Wayzata Middle School team. In the Green race, Kingsley Loso, Grace Marley, and Ava Doherty placed in the top 10 and led the team to a win with 37 points. In the Silver race, Zeilyn Rico, and Maxine Truelson placed in the top 20. In the Gold race, Haidyn Lambert finished 8th with a time of 23:53. Middle School raced 3,200 Meters and took the top 4 spots with Catherine Williams, Emily Nelson, Paige Larson, and Edyn Holland sweeping the podium.
The Trojans have 2 more races including The Metro Invitational and then head to Iowa before launching into post season competition.
Breck handed the Wayzata girls tennis team its first loss of the season Wednesday, edging the Trojans 4-3 in a matchup of two of the area’s top teams.
Wayzata, playing without three regulars, swept all three doubles matches in straight sets. Breck answered by sweeping singles, including comeback wins after dropping the first set at No. 1 and No. 3 singles.
The Mustangs improved to 6-1, while the Trojans fell to 9-1.
Wayzata scored four touchdowns in less than seven minutes during the second quarter on its way to a 38-14 win over Edina Sept. 10 at Wayzata High School.
The Trojans intercepted three Edina passes during the second quarter, with each turnover leading to a Wayzata touchdown. The victory moved Wayzata to 2-0 after the Trojans finished 1-8 last season.
Wayzata travels to St. Michael-Albertville tonight, Sept. 18, for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The video above is from CCX Media, with Jay Wilcox reporting.
The Wayzata girls soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday, falling 2-1 to rival Edina.
Edina took a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first half when Mikaela Caverly intercepted an errant Wayzata pass and set up Grace Gady for the goal.
Wayzata tied the match midway through the second half. Etta Foster sent in a corner kick that was deflected into the net by Morgan Bryant.
The Hornets scored the game-winner with two minutes remaining. Gady’s corner kick was knocked off the crossbar before Ainsley Graves headed in the rebound.
Last season, Wayzata girls XC team was rated number one, not just in the state, but the entire country. Fresh off an undefeated season, and winning Conference, Sections, State, Nike Regionals, and Nike Nationals in Oregon in December, many thought that was the end of the Wayzata dynasty. 6 of the 7 runners were seniors, leaving only one freshman as a returner. Pre-season rankings had the girls barely cracking the top 10 in the state, deeming it a “rebuilding year”. But as the saying goes, never count Wayzata out.
This year’s season started on Thursday with the St. Olaf High School Showcase, and these Trojans were ready to show everyone that they are ready to carry on the winning tradition. Wayzata won the invitational in true form by over 50 points to the second place team, Northfield. Other Lake Conference teams competing included Minnetonka, Hopkins, and Buffalo.
Sabrina Shreshta and Faith Sundet leading Trojans to a meet win. Photo Candice Leddy.
2 new comers, both sophomores coming from other sports last year, were Faith Sundet who won the meet with a 19:00, and Sabrina Shrestha at a 19:22. Sienna Blomberg, a senior, exploded on the scene with a 2 minute PR at a 19:26, followed by the National team returner another sophomore, Alissa Ledman at a 19:48. Three juniors continued the great finishes with Naoko, or “Koko” Neitz coming in at a 20:14, Adele Stark at a 20:25, and Cody Riddering at a 20:31. Three more newcomers, sophomore Brianna Ledman finished in a 20:34, followed by 2 freshman, Eve Lofgren and Olivia Cahill to round out the top 10 finishers for Wayzata. Add junior Laney Grandberg in there at a 20:44, and you have 11 girls that all went sub 21 minutes in the first race of the season.
Rachel Frank, Naomi Jones, Elle Tupa, and Saige Schmidt holding steady at the 2k mark. Photo Candice Leddy.
When asked about the team’s hopes for the season, Alissa Ledman stated “We have a lot of young talent that no one was expecting. It’s going to be a really fun season, and we’re all learning together. We may not have the experience racing that some of the other teams have, but we trust our coaches to talk us through the process, and are confident in this team’s ability to stick together.”
Come support the girls team at the next meet on Thursday, Sept 10th at Steve Michaud Park in Lakeville which will put them up against other top ranked teams in the state.
Senior Sienna Blomberg hitting a PR. Photo Candice Leddy.Freshman Olivia Cahill sprinting to the finish line. Photo Candice Leddy.
“The Wayzata girls volleyball team faced a tough foe in the season opener, and were swept by East Ridge. The Raptors took a 25-21, 25-17, 25-20 win. It was the third match of the season for East Ridge. Wayzata was scheduled to play at Hopkins Tuesday but a power outage forced that match to be postponed. The Trojans host Buffalo Thursday.” via CCX Media.
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