By Scoreless after one half, Tea scored three unanswered goals to begin the second half to knock off Groton 3-1 in the girls Class A soccer state championship in Brandon.
The Tigers end their season with a 9-3-1 record. The Titans finish with a 12-3-2 mark and made it back-to-back Class A titles.
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“Credit to Tea, they are a very disciplined team, and I knew they would go feet to feet,” said Groton head coach Chris Kucker. “We had some opportunities in the first half that we really liked. Our connections were there and the girls were flowing. When we got to half, I just told them we needed to stay offensive, and combat Tea’s (Aftyn) Murray and (Mya) Neuhardt at midfield and defense.”
The Titans opened the scoring when Cate Giles scored on a penalty kick that made it a 1-0.
They would add two more goals coming from Sage Hoffman and Kendra Nelson to make it 3-0.
Groton’s Jerica Locke tallied the only goal of the match for the Tigers. Her shot was deflected in on an attempted clear by the Titans and went into the net with 7:36 to go in the game.
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“I was very happy to see the girls mount an attack and get a goal as the result,” Kucker said. “We were putting pressure on their goalie and scoring that goal was huge. I wanted our girls to come out with the satisfaction that we put in a goal in the state championship. They just stayed focused the entire match.
“This wasn’t how we wanted to end our season,” he said, adding that the goal entering the season was achieved.
Getting to championship match was goal for Groton
“The objective is to get to this final game,” Kucker said. “The girls had a tremendous year and they work well in every aspect. Their commitment is so evident. I mean, 13 of our players also play volleyball and one runs cross-country. We, as a coaching staff, tried to keep them focused and they just held it together all season long.”
Other scores from Saturday’s championship games follow.
Girls Class A championship
No. 1 Tea Area (12-3-2) 0 3 — 3
No. 2 Groton Area (9-3-1) 0 1 — 1
First Half Scoring: None
Second Half Scoring: 1, TA, Giles, 34th minute; 2, TA, Sage Hoffman, 29th minute; 3, TA, Kendra Nielson, 26th minute; 4, GA, Jerica Locke, 7th minute.
Scores from the other state championship matches follow.
Girls Class AA
No. 1 Harrisburg (17-1) 4 4 — 8
No. 2 Mitchell (16-2) 0 1 —1
Boys Class A
No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian (15-0-2) 2 2 — 4
No. 3 Tea Area (8-9) 1 1 — 2
Boys Class AA
No. 1 Sioux Falls Lincoln (14-0-2) 2 1 — 3
No. 2. O’Gorman (13-2-2) 1 1 — 2