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Eagles stun top-seeded Mankato West in OT

Kalis’ OT goal sends New Ulm to next round

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau The New Ulm girls’ soccer team runs over to greet parents and fans in celebration after defeating top-seeded Mankato West in North Mankato on Saturday.

NORTH MANKATO — Despite missing on a breakaway shot just minutes before, New Ulm’s Paige Kalis made up for the miss in the biggest way possible on Saturday in a sudden-death overtime period against Mankato West at Caswell North Soccer Complex.

With less than a minute left in overtime, Kalis scored on a breakaway goal to give the eighth-seeded Eagles a 2-1 win over top-seeded Mankato West in Section 2A girls’ soccer playoff action.

Kalis’ overtime goal came on an assist by Madison Roufs and went to the left of Scarlets keeper Claire Hemstock, sending New Ulm fans in attendance into a frenzy. Minutes earlier in the overtime period, Kalis missed a breakaway shot wide left.

But she didn’t let that miss affect her one bit.

“I wasn’t really thinking about the previous miss, but when you’re running up for a breakaway, I always have to look at where the goalie is positioned on the goal,” Kalis said. “And where she was positioned, she was moved all the way to that right side, so I knew that if I took a small touch to the left and made a shot to the left, then it would go in, and I was correct. As I was running, that’s what I thought of.”

The Scarlets end their season at 13-2-2. This was New Ulm’s first win over West since 2011, where the Eagles got a 1-0 win.

While West took a lead early on after a goal by Katie Roberts in just the second minute of play, New Ulm’s defense limited the Scarlets the rest of the half from getting off many quality shot attempts. The Eagles then got a late first-half goal in the 39th minute on a goal by Roufs that dropped over the head of Hemstock to tie things up at 1-all. That goal was assisted on by Kaye Rysdahl.

West controlled the ball for most of the second half, but the Eagles’ defense stood tough, getting a few late saves from keeper Kendra Nesvold and a blocked free kick off the body of Hannah Osborne with less than five minutes left in regulation.

Nesvold finished the game with 23 saves.

West had a chance to score on a free kick by Ali Rutz early on in overtime, but Nesvold reached up high to block the kick and cover it up. Minutes later, New Ulm got just what it needed from Kalis late to knock off the Scarlets.

“I told them that basically the first half was a 50-50 game,” New Ulm head coach Jonathan Johnson said. “It started out a tad slow, and [West] got that quick goal right off the bat, but it’s like something clicked inside of them. They just picked up their game and kept it, it was a midfield battle, actually, and at halftime I said, ‘Keep believing in yourselves, you guys got this because you are just as good or better.’ And it stuck with them throughout that whole second half and the overtime.”

The Eagles (13-4-1), now two wins away from reaching state, next move on to a 7 p.m. Tuesday game at fourth-seeded Waconia.

“This is the first time the New Ulm girls have made it this far, because last year, we lost to them [West],” Kalis said. “So I’m just ecstatic about moving on. If we win the next game or we lose the next game, I’m still just going to be so happy with my team.”

The temperature at game time in North Mankato was 35 degrees, with a light snow continuing to fall throughout the game.

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