Posted: 10/23/07
Girls edge Byron in OT before La Crescent denies trip to state
 Caledoniaís Sarah Colleran battled this Byron defender during the girls 2-1 overtime win in the section semi-finals last week. Photo by Charlie Warner |
By Tom Murphy
Special for the Caledonia Argus
Caledonia High Schoolís girlsí soccer team battled past Byron last Tuesday before being dominated 6-1 by La Crescent in the section 1A finals on Thursday. That summed up the tournament trail for the Warriors who finished 16-2. Both of the losses came to La Crescent which qualified for the state tournament for a third straight year.
Girls win in overtime
The 3-2 overtime victory over Byron was another tough meet following the bruising 1-0 victory earlier in the season. To Caledoniaís benefit, both matches were played on the Warriorsí home field.
"You could tell Byron really wanted this game," head coach Sue Link said. "At the seeding meeting, Byron felt it deserved the number two seed which would have given them the home field in the first two rounds. I guess the outcome proved the seedings correctly," she said.Ý
"The meet with Byron was an awesome game," Link said. "We had to fight for every goal."
Link was especially pleased with the team play as evidenced for the scores and assists each recorded by a different player. "It was a total team effort," she said.
Bobbi Jo Schuttemeier opened the scoring with 10 minutes left in the first half. Getting the assist on the play was Rachel Strub. Byron came back to tie it up.Ý
Kayla McCormick put the Warriors ahead again on an assist from Megan Schmitz and then Byron came back at the 69 minute mark to tie it up. The score held up sending the game into overtime.
Leading scorer Sarah Colleran punched in the game winner. Sara Kasten was credited with the assist.
Byron only had nine shots on goal while the Warriors fired 18 shots at the Bearsí goalie. "It was a tough loss for Byron," Link said. "It was great competition for us to get ready for La Crescent. You have to credit Byron."
Lose to La Crescent
Poor playing conditions at La Crescentís field forced a change in the site to Winona State Universityís Maxwell Field. CHS Athletic Director Ken Van Den Boom said that La Crescent "was unplayable and more rain was in the forecast," in explaining the change.
While the Warriors were in a struggle with Byron, La Crescentís girls were blowing out Rochester Lourdes to set up the section finals.
The change to the artificial turf was to La Crescentís benefit. "They are quicker and faster than we are and it is a fast turf," Link said. "It was a hot day and we didnít have a lot of conditioning for it," she said.
"You have to give La Crescent a lot of credit for their balance," Link said. "They had four different girls score and they had us down 4-0. We just couldnít ëmarkí one player."
The Warriors switched to a 3-4-3 alignment at that point to try and avoid a shutout and Colleran, the stateís top scorer, got a goal with just over eight minutes left in the game. Sara Kasten had the assist on Colleranís goal. "I felt it was important for us to score," Link said in explaining why she pulled a defender.
It was a defensive game as La Crescent took just seven shots on the goal while the Warriors took just nine shots.
"We can only celebrate the highlights of this season," Link said. "There are many teams that would have liked to have been in this position."
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