By Jake Schroer
Crow River News Sports
The Lady Knights soccer team played step-for-step with the Minneapolis Washburn Millers on Wednesday night in the opening game of the state tournament, but lost by a goal 2-1.
The game turned on two key plays toward the end of the first half, and the Knights were on the wrong side of both.
Washburn got a rush and Lydia Ruppert scored with six minutes to go in the half. One minute later, before the Knights could recover from allowing the first goal, Washburn got a second from Kaitlyn Villars.
As it was, the game went to intermission 2-0 in favor of the Millers.
In the second half, the Knights dominated play, but could not generate a result on the scoreboard for much of the final 40 minutes.
Finally, with a minute left, the Knights got a penalty shot. Makenzie Langdok, the future Golden Gopher, buried it to bring the score to 2-1. However, it was just a matter of playing keep-away for the Millers, who hung on to win.
STMA’s season ended on just its second loss.
Head coach Megan Johnson said that the Lady Knights battled through a lot of nerves in the game.
“They came out and definitely gave it their best shot in the second half and played as hard as they could right down to the final whistle.”